Oil prices fall, extend slide after OPEC+ cuts underwhelm

Oil prices fall, extend slide after OPEC+ cuts underwhelm

Oil prices fell in early Asian trade on Friday, extending losses after OPEC+ producers agreed to voluntary oil output cuts for the first quarter next year that fell short of market expectations.

Brent crude futures for February fell 14 cents, or 0.2%, to $80.72 a barrel by 0005 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 12 cents, or 0.2%, to $75.84.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of OPEC+, who pump more than 40% of the world's oil, agreed to voluntary output cuts of about 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first quarter of 2024.

At least 1.3 million bpd of those cuts, however, were an extension of voluntary curbs that Saudi Arabia and Russia already had in place. Earlier, delegates had said new additional cuts under discussion were as much as 2 million bpd.

OPEC+'s output of some 43 million bpd already reflects cuts of about 5 million bpd aimed at supporting prices and stabilising the market.

The total curbs amount to 2.2 million bpd from eight producers, OPEC said in a statement after the meeting. Included in this figure is an extension of the Saudi and Russian voluntary cuts of 1.3 million bpd.

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