Oil prices fluctuated on Tuesday as investors continued to monitor the ongoing U.S. debt ceiling negotiations. U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy revealed that while he and President Joe Biden engaged in a production discussion, an agreement between Democrats and Republicans is yet to be reached.
West Texas Intermediate traded near $72 a barrel, thereby retreating from its 0.5% growth on Monday. While both WTI and Brent were up by 20 cents earlier in the day, they ultimately settled for losses for the day.
With debt ceiling talks taking center stage in investors’ minds, traders appear to have largely ignored a recent warning by Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman against short-selling.
Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum, the Saudi energy minister spoke of how he had previously cautioned short sellers, explaining: “I keep advising them that they will be ouching — they did ouch in April. I would just tell them: Watch out!”
Despite a muted reaction to the Saudi minister, traders cannot dismiss his warning entirely as Saudi Arabia remains the de facto leader of OPEC+, which recently shocked the global crude market by announcing an unexpected cut in output that took effect this month.
