Reuters: OPEC decision will have the biggest impact on prices in February 2017

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Oil traders expect the OPEC production cut to have the greatest influence on global prices not earlier than in February next year, Reuters reports on Wednesday. In the end of November OPEC ministers are to meet in their headquarters in Vienna to clear out the details of the output freeze agreement.

"The reason why you're not going to see any impact on Q4 2016 prices is because by November when this decision is made you are going to be trading January or February barrels," said Virendra Chauhan, crude oil analyst at trading consultancy Energy Aspects in Singapore.

Analysts explain that even in January the effect of the OPEC agreement is unlikely to be as clear as in February. The reason is that January data expires on the day of the meeting, while February is going to be the first contract that covers the meeting itself.

At the end of September the ministers of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to cut the level of production in order to calm down global oil prices. They are to meet again at Nov. 30 in Vienna to discuss individual quotas for each country and probable participation of non-OPEC members in the deal.