While investors weighed OPEC+’s move to extend deep output cuts until 2025 oil prices were little changed on Monday.
Brent futures for August delivery fell 14 cents, or 0.2%, to $80.97 a barrel by 0640 GMT, after falling to a session low of $80.55.
WTI crude futures for July delivery fell 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $76.90 after falling to $76.39 earlier.
Brent closed down 0.6% and WTI lost 1% last week.
OPEC+ and its allies led by Russia are currently cutting output by a combined 5.86 million barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to about 5.7% of global demand.
This includes the 3.66 million bpd cuts that were due to expire by the end of 2024, and the voluntary cuts of 2.2 million bpd by eight members, which are set to expire by the end of June 2024.
But on Sunday, the group agreed to extend the 3.66 million bpd cuts by a year to the end of 2025. It will also extend the 2.2 million bpd cuts by three months to the end of September 2024, and then phase them out over a year from October 2024 to September 2025.
Analysts and investors will need time to calculate the reduction in production and digest the decision. Overall, the decision is a bit bearish because the market was not expecting OPEC+ to start rolling back the cuts in the fourth quarter.
The eight OPEC+ countries had already signaled plans to phase out voluntary cuts of 2.2 million bpd between October 2024 and September 2025.
In the Middle East, mediators in the Gaza conflict have urged Israel and Hamas to finalize a ceasefire and hostage release deal outlined by U.S. President Joe Biden, but Israel has said the war will not formally end as long as Hamas remains in power. Israel has said it is considering an alternative to governing the Iran-backed group.
Israel has accepted a framework agreement to end the Gaza war but said that the deal is flawed and needs more work.
