Oil prices dropped on Thursday ahead of the meeting of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+.
Brent crude fell by 1.11 percent to $66.85 per barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude dropped by 1.20 percent to $63.20 a barrel.
The development comes three days ahead of a meeting where eight OPEC+ member states will decide on voluntary production adjustments.
The countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman.
According to Reuters, the countries will consider further increases to output in October at the meeting on Sunday as the group seeks to regain market share.
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On December 5, 2024, the oil cartel said the countries will extend the adjustments until the end of March 2025, adding that the 2.2 million bpd adjustments would be gradually phased out on a monthly basis until the end of September 2026 “to support market stability”.
However, on March 3, the countries decided to proceed with a planned oil output increase from April 1.
The countries also agreed to increase production by 411,000 bpd for May and July.
Furthermore, the countries decided to raise output by 548,000 bpd in August and 547,000 bpd for September.
With oil trading below the $75 per barrel benchmark set for the 2025 budget, experts warn Nigeria’s budget implementation may be at risk.
