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By Michael Poulson, A/S Global Risk Management

This morning, oil prices are slightly down as the dollar strengthens. This traditionally weighs on oil prices because oil is traded in dollars.

Oil continues to trade in a tight range as markets are awaiting the outcome of next week's OPEC meeting. Will the parties sign an agreement? And if they do, will they actually stick to it and cut output? Likely, the answer to the first question is "yes", and "maybe" to the second. Until we know for sure, markets' eyes and ears are on any OPEC news ahead of the meeting.

Ahead of the official meeting on 30 November, a preliminary meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers is scheduled for 28 November. As OPEC - likely - decides to cut output, the organisation presses for non-OPEC producers to cut output by 880,000 barrels per day from 1 January 2017. Russia is the largest non-OPEC oil producer, but also Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Oman are among the countries which could participate in the non-OPEC output cut. However, Russia has merely expressed the participation in an output FREEZE, not an output cut, so there seems to still be plenty to talk about between the parties next week.

We could see some increased intraday volatility today due to thin trading (U.S. long holiday weekend).

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A/S Global Risk Management is a provider of customised hedging solutions for the management of price risk on fuel expenses. The company has offices in Denmark and Singapore. For further details about its risk management products and services, please call +45 88 38 00 00 or email hedging@global-riskmanagement.com.