SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices hit and then recoiled from highs last seen in October 2018 on Monday as investors eyed the outcome of this week’s OPEC+.
Brent crude for August had slipped 20 cents to $76.1 a barrel by 0813 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for August was at $73.93 per barrel, up 12 cents.
OPEC+ is returning 2.1 million barrels per day (bpd) to the market from May through July as part of a plan to gradually unwind last year’s record oil output curbs.
The producer group meets on July 1 and could further ease supply cuts in August as oil prices rise on demand recovery.
“Demand recovery has caught everyone by surprise and OPEC needs to respond,” Reuters quoted economist at Singapore’s OCBC bank Howie Lee as saying.
“There is some leeway for easing supply curbs given how high prices are, and we might see a 250,000 bpd increase from August,” Howie said.
ANZ and ING expect OPEC+ to increase output by about 500,000 bpd in August, which is likely to support higher prices, according to Reuters.
