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Brent futures for June fell 5 cents to $89.30 a barrel at 0919
GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures for May fell 1
cent to $85.42 a barrel.
A meeting of top ministers from the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) including Russia,
kept oil supply policy unchanged on Wednesday and pressed some
countries to boost compliance with output cuts.
The group said some members would compensate for oversupply in
the first quarter. It also said Russia would switch to output
rather than export curbs.
Both the June Brent contract and the May WTI contract have risen
for the past four days and closed on Wednesday at their highest
levels since October.
Analysts at ING said oil prices continued to edge higher after
the OPEC+ meeting recommended no change to output policy.
"Brent is facing some resistance at the $90/bbl level, with it
unable to break above it so far," the ING analysts said.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was cautious
about future interest rate cuts after recent data showed
higher-than-expected job growth and inflation.
The comments were positive for oil because they indicated solid
U.S. economic growth, said Rob Haworth, senior investment
strategist for U.S. Bank's asset management group.
Oil's recent gains have followed Ukrainian attacks on Russian
refineries that cut fuel supply and concerns that the
Israel-Hamas war in Gaza may spread to include Iran, possibly
disrupting supplies in the key Middle East region.
Iran has vowed revenge against Israel for an attack on Monday
that killed high-ranking Iranian military personnel. Iran is the
third-largest producer in OPEC.
"While this (OPEC+ decision) was widely expected, it provides
some assurance that the recent rise in tension in the Middle
East has not altered the group's view on the market," ANZ
analysts said in a note on Thursday.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten in London and Laura Sanicola and
Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by Sonali Paul and Jason Neely)
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