After two days of steep declines, oil heads to biggest weekly loss in months

Oil prices fell on Friday, heading for their biggest weekly decline since at least May, as expectations of an increase in supply raised concerns among investors, while OPEC is expected to increase production based on ” a possible upturn in demand as more countries recover from the pandemic.

Brent crude for September delivery fell to $ 73 a barrel and is heading for a 3% loss this week after two days of steep declines, the biggest weekly drop since May.

U.S. crude for August delivery fell below $ 72 a barrel and is on track to drop about 4% this week, the biggest weekly drop since March.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and Other Producers’ procurement policy talks, as part of the OPEC + group, ended without a deal this month after the UAE are opposed to their production base, which has hampered the expansion of production. policy beyond April 2022.

A source at OPEC + told “Reuters” on Wednesday that an agreement has been reached on OPEC + policy, in a step that would pave the way for a deal to increase crude supplies in a tight oil market, but the Energy issued a statement saying it did not. A deal has yet to be reached with the OPEC + alliance.

On Thursday, OPEC said it expects global oil demand to rise next year to almost the levels it was before the pandemic, around 100 million barrels a day, driven by the growth in demand in the United States, China and India.

The report showed that OPEC’s production increased in June from 590,000 barrels per day to 26.03 million barrels per day.