Oil prices experienced a decline on Thursday, following a drop of over 2% in the prior trading session. This movement comes as investors and traders anticipate a weekend meeting of OPEC+, during which producers are likely to deliberate on a potential increase in output targets. Brent crude experienced a decline of 27 cents, representing a 0.40% decrease, settling at $67.33 per barrel by 0114 GMT.

Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude saw a reduction of 28 cents, equivalent to a 0.44% drop, bringing its price to $63.69 per barrel. Eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, collectively referred to as OPEC+, are set to deliberate on potential production increases in October during a meeting scheduled for Sunday, according to two sources acquainted with the discussions. This move is part of the group’s strategy to reclaim market share. The likelihood of OPEC+ increasing production has grown in anticipation of the upcoming meeting, according to Phil Flynn, a senior analyst at Price Futures Group. Market participants had anticipated no alteration from the group.

OPEC+ had previously reached a consensus to elevate output targets by approximately 2.2 million barrels per day from April through September, alongside a 300,000 bpd quota augmentation for the United Arab Emirates.
In recent months, even with the notable uptick in production, oil prices in the Middle East have consistently held the position of the highest regional prices worldwide. A report from Haitong Securities indicates that this has strengthened the confidence of Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members to increase output. Market participants are currently anticipating the release of government data regarding U.S. crude stockpiles, which is scheduled for Thursday, delayed by a day due to a U.S. holiday on Monday.

In the week concluding August 29, U.S. crude inventories experienced an increase of 622,000 barrels, according to market sources referencing data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) released on Wednesday. [EIA/S] [API/S] The API estimate for U.S. crude stock builds diverged from the consensus of analysts, who projected an average decline of 2 million barrels in U.S. crude inventories.