SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices slipped on Thursday following two days of gains after a call from the United States for major producers to boost output.
Brent crude futures slipped by 21 cents to $71.23 a barrel by 0729 GMT, after earlier rising to a session-high of $71.69.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 25 cents to $69 after rising to $69.51 earlier.
“Crude prices are paring earlier gains that stemmed from President Biden’s plea to OPEC for more crude,” Reuters quoted Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA, as saying.
“The rally in oil prices is hitting a major roadblock in Asia as concerns grow China’s outlook is looking worse this month and that can’t be good for the demand outlook,” Moya added.
Biden’s administration on Wednesday urged the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC, to boost oil output to tackle rising gasoline prices that they see as a threat to the global economic recovery, according to Reuters.
OPEC agreed in July to boost output each month by 400,000 bpd over the previous month, starting in August, until the rest of their record cuts of 10 million bpd, about 10% of world demand, made in 2020 are phases out.
“The Biden administration said that the recently agreed production increases will not fully offset previous production cuts imposed during the pandemic,” Reuters quoted ANZ as saying.
