Oil prices tumble nearly 4pct as OPEC+ meeting delayed

Oil prices tanked nearly 4 percent on Wednesday as OPEC+ producers delayed a meeting on output planned for Sunday, raising questions about the future course of crude production cuts.

Brent crude futures was down $3.05, or 3.7 percent, to $79.40 a barrel by 1313 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude futures were down $2.97, or 3.82 percent, to $74.80.

OPEC+ delayed its ministerial meeting to November 30 from November 26 as previously scheduled, OPEC said in a statement, without giving a reason for the postponement.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported that the OPEC+ meeting could be delayed for an unspecified period of time after Saudi Arabia expressed its dissatisfaction with other membersabout their output numbers.

Analysts had predicted before the delay that OPEC+ was likely to extend or even deepen oil supply cuts into next year.

Both Brent and WTI oil benchmarks have fallen for four straight weeks.