SINGAPORE: Due to further supply pressure from a potential July increase in OPEC+ output, oil prices fell for the fourth straight session on Friday and were expected to fall for the first time in three weeks. By 7:12 a.m. Saudi time, Brent futures dropped 31 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $64.13 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate oil futures fell to $60.87, down 33 cents, or 0.5 percent.
After two weeks of increases, WTI has plummeted 2.5 percent and Brent has slumped 1.9 percent for the week. Following a Bloomberg News report that OPEC+ was mulling another significant production increase at a meeting on June 1, both futures fell to their lowest levels in over a week on Thursday.
According to the article, which cited delegates, no final agreement has been reached despite discussions on raising July output by 411,000 barrels per day (bpd). In a research report, ING researchers stated that “the oil market is under renewed pressure as noise builds around what OPEC+ will do with their July output levels.
They now predict that Brent will average $59 a barrel in the fourth quarter and anticipate that OPEC+ will proceed with a 411,000 bpd supply increase for July. In April, May, and June, OPEC+, which consists of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies like Russia, agreed to boost output by around a million barrels per day.
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