Crude oil futures were steady in mid-morning Asian trade Aug. 3 as investors kept an eye on the upcoming OPEC+ meet as well as fresh geopolitical tensions between the US and China.
At 10:21 am Singapore time (0221 GMT), the ICE October Brent futures contract was down 3 cents/b (0.03%) from the previous close at $100.51/b, while the NYMEX September light sweet crude contract was 6 cents/b (0.06%) higher at $94.48/b.
All eyes were on the OPEC+ meet set to take place later Aug. 3, with expectations widespread that the group will choose to stand pat on September output after completing the unwinding of their historical output cuts this month.
Still, some analysts note the possibility of the group raising output slightly in response to US President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia last month.
"OPEC+ has long been producing considerably less than planned, so a further gradual increase of the production targets appears to make sense in order to narrow this gap," Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said in a late Aug. 2 note.
Concerns over possible demand destruction continued to simmer as a slew of comments overnight from US Federal Reserve members, including San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, reinforced the Fed's unwavering fight against inflation.
Daly said the Fed's work on inflation was "nowhere near almost done", while also pushing back against the notion that the Fed might cut rates next year.
"The Fed is clearly committed to front-loading rate hikes to combat inflation," said OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya. "This round of Fed speak suggests markets might be a little too optimistic in pricing in a Fed pivot and that rate cut calls for next year are too optimistic."
Geopolitical tensions between the US and China were also in focus after China vowed "targeted military actions" in response to US House speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan Aug. 2.
Dubai crude swaps were higher in mid-morning trade in Asia Aug. 3 from the previous close, while intermonth spreads were mostly steady.
The October Dubai swap was pegged at $93.57/b at 10 am Singapore time (0200 GMT), up $1.49/b (1.62%) from the Aug. 2 Asian market close.
The September-October Dubai swap intermonth spread was pegged at $2.30/b at 10 am, unchanged from the previous close, and the October-November intermonth spread was pegged at $1.59/b, down 4 cents/b.
The October Brent/Dubai EFS was pegged at $7.10/b, unchanged on the day.