Oil Little Changed After OPEC+ Agrees To Raise Output

Oil prices were little changed after erasing early losses on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to boost crude output to compensate for a drop in Russian production, Scott Disavino reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: OPEC+ agreed to raise output by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July and 648,000 bpd in August.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, known as OPEC+, agreed to raise output by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July and 648,000 bpd in August, a source told Reuters.

Oil prices could get more support later on Thursday if analysts' forecasts are correct that US crude inventories declined by around 1.4 million barrels last week. The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, said on Wednesday that US crude stocks fell by 1.2 million barrels in the week ended May 27.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) will issue the official report at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Thursday, a day later than usual following Monday's US Memorial Day holiday.

Brent futures rose 40 cents, or 0.3%, to $116.69 a barrel by 9:36 a.m. EDT (1336 GMT), while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 49 cents, or 0.4%, to $115.75.

The benchmarks have mostly marched higher for several weeks as Russian exports have been squeezed by U.S. and EU sanctions against Moscow over its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, an action Moscow calls a "special military operation."

Russian production has fallen by around 1 million bpd following sanctions, Rowena Edwards in London and Yuka Obayashi also reported for Reuters.

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