• Oil dipped in early trading after a modest loss on Monday as rising tension in the Middle East and Ukraine over the weekend did little to spark any significant price action.
• West Texas Intermediate futures traded below $80 a barrel, while Brent closed 0.3% lower near $84 on Monday. Prices have been rangebound as traders look ahead to an OPEC+ meeting in early June that will set the group’s supply policy, although a rollover of existing curbs is largely expected.
• Oil is around 9% higher this year due to the OPEC+ cuts, but prices have eased since mid-April and implied volatility is near the lowest since 2019. Over the weekend, Ukraine continued its drone attacks on Russia’s refining sector and a China-bound oil tanker was hit by a Houthi missile in the Red Sea.