Oil falls as Saudi Arabia pushes for faster OPEC+ output increases

Oil prices declined on Thursday amid reports that Saudi Arabia is pushing OPEC+ to accelerate production increases in the coming months.

According to Bloomberg, citing sources, Riyadh is seeking to regain lost market share and is advocating for a boost in production quotas by 411,000 barrels per day starting in August, and possibly continuing into September.

As of 9:15 a.m. Baku time, Brent crude futures for August delivery were down 15 cents, or 0.23%, at $64.71 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London. On Wednesday, Brent fell by 77 cents, or 1.17%, to settle at $64.86.

WTI crude futures for July delivery were down 33 cents, or 0.53%, at $62.52 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) after sliding 56 cents, or 0.88%, to $62.85 in the previous session.

The price of Azeri Light crude fell by $1.40, or 2%, to $68.47 a barrel on the global market.

N.Tebrizli