As U.S. crude stockpiles rise, oil prices have fallen for the second day in a row, reports MSN.
While gasoline stocks fell by 4.4 million barrels, Brent crude futures for May fell by 0.8% to $85.56 a barrel, with the May contract expiring today. The more active June contract fell by 0.7% to $85.03. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude futures fell by 0.7% to $81.07.
OPEC+ is not expected to change its oil output policy before its full ministerial gathering in June, as told by three sources to Reuters. Next week, an online meeting of OPEC+’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee will review the current market and how its members have been implementing output cuts.
OPEC+ members agreed to prolong output cuts of around 2.2 million barrels per day to the end of June. To comply with these goals, Russia has instructed companies to cut production to comply with the targets, and Iraq’s oil ministry reduced its exports to make up for recent overproduction.
Some doubts have been raised about OPEC and OPEC+’s commitment to abiding by its proposed cuts to production, with OPEC surpassing its goal of 190,000 bpd this past February.
“Traders are also watching OPEC members for any sign they may be altering their stance on production quotas,” said analysts at ANZ in a report released this week.
