HOUSTON: Oil futures slipped by about $1 a barrel in choppy trading on Friday ahead of a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) on Sunday and an EU ban on Russian crude on Monday.

Brent crude futures were down $1.10, or 1.1%, at $85.87 per barrel by 1:07 pm (1807 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 77 cents, or 0.9%, to $80.47 per barrel.

Both contracts dipped in and out of negative territory, but were on track for their first weekly gains, the biggest in two months at around 2% and 5% respectively, after three consecutive weeks of drops.

“Traders will be hesitant to be short over the weekend if there are growing rumblings that OPEC might try to shock and awe the market at their weekend meeting,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures group.

OPEC+ is widely expected to stick to its latest target of reducing oil production by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) when it meets on Sunday, but some analysts believe that crude prices could fall if the group does not make further cuts.

“Crude carries significantly more weekend risk and could be extremely volatile on the open next week,” said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam, a view echoed by other analysts. Russian oil output could fall by 500,000 to 1 million bpd early in 2023 due to the European Union ban on seaborne imports from Monday, two sources at major Russian producers said.

Poland agreed to the EU’s deal for a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil, allowing the bloc to move forward with formally approving the deal over the weekend, Poland’s Ambassador to the EU Andrzej Sados said.