WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures settled marginally down on Friday, as markets looked ahead to the outcome of the meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies.
The OPEC+ was originally scheduled to discuss and announce its plans about increasing crude output on Thursday (July 1). However, the group announced yesterday that it will meet on Friday to discuss plans about easing production curbs.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.07 or about 0.1% at $75.16 a barrel.
The OPEC had earlier agreed in principle to increase crude output by 400,000 barrels per day from August through December, to cater to rising demand.
Saudi Arabia and Russia are said to have proposed extending the duration of cuts till the end of next year, while the United Arab Emirates reportedly wants to change the baseline used to determine its output level.
Meanwhile, a report from Baker Hughes showed U.S. energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for a third time in four weeks. The report said the oil and gas rig count in the U.S. went up by 5 to 475 in the week ended July 2. This is the highest count since April 2020.
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