US output affects oil prices, despite commitment to cut production

Oil prices retreated from early gains on Thursday, as the continued increase in US output undermined the efforts to restore balance led by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as countries outside the Organization, such as Russia. Brent crude futures fell 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, from the last settlement, with Brent crude trading at $69.34 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures contract fell about 4 cents from the last settlement, trading at $ 65.13 a barrel.

The benchmark crude hit its highest level since early February in the previous session, rising about 10% from the low levels recorded in March. In general, the movement of the oil markets, the morale of traders and even the price trends are negatively affected by the continuous increase in US crude production, which rose to new record highs of 10.4 million barrels per day last week. But, according to oil experts, despite this rise and increase in US production, the highest since mid-2016, the oil markets are still well-supported, which should not affect prices significantly.

OPEC said on Wednesday that the agreement to reduce production is gradually approaching its desired goals of reducing stocks and global supply to an average of five years, but the organization did not provide any further details on the subject. It should be noted here that the Joint Technical Committee of OPEC and the group of non-OPEC producer countries, who met in Vienna, estimated that compliance with the oil production reduction agreement reached a record high in February. The level of commitment increased last month, compared with January, and the initial estimate of the commitment ratio in the first month of this year was 133%, the highest since the implementation of the terms of the agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC members to reduce the supply, which began in January 2017.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is seeking to cut production by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) from January 1, the first production cut in eight years, and Russia and 10 other non-OPEC producers have agreed to cut production by about half of that.

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