The new OPEC + meeting will be held on Sunday

The main oil-producing countries that support the increase in production will hold a meeting on Sunday, according to what OPEC announced after the failure of previous negotiations which took place in early July.

The meeting of the “OPEC Plus” alliance, and its most prominent members, Saudi Arabia and Russia, will be held Sunday at 10:00 GMT via video technology, according to what the OPEC secretariat said in a statement. The meeting is expected to take a decision on oil production policy.

Oil prices were little changed on Friday and ended the week lower as they were weakened in volatile trading amid expectations of supply growth at a time when an increase in Corona virus infections could lead to impose restrictions on public isolation decrease in demand.

Brent crude futures rose 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $ 73.59 a barrel on settlement, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose 16 cents, or 0.2%, at $ 71.81 upon settlement.

Earlier in the session, both benchmarks fell more than a dollar a barrel.

Despite limited gains, Brent fell nearly 3% last week, the third consecutive decline for the first time since April 2020. West Texas Intermediate crude fell about 4% in one week, the largest drop weekly in percentage since March.

Retail sales in the United States unexpectedly increased in June as demand for goods remained strong, although spending returned to services, raising expectations of accelerating economic growth in the second quarter.

With oil prices mostly rising in recent months, the number of oil rigs operating in the United States has continued to slowly increase, adding two rigs this week and bringing the number of rigs to 380, the highest since April 2020, according to energy services. Baker Hughes Company.

U.S. crude production has grown by 300,000 barrels per day over the past two weeks, reaching 11.4 million barrels per day in the week ending July 9, the highest level since May 2020, according to federal data.

OPEC +, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other producers, had not reached an agreement before.

OPEC said Thursday it expects global oil demand to rise next year to near pre-pandemic levels of around 100 million barrels per day, driven by demand growth in the United States, China and India.