Oil prices slid 1 per cent on Tuesday, extending to losses that began last week as expectations from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would agree to raise oil supply. OPEC meeting scheduled this week added pressure and worries over slowing demand in China dampened sentiment.
Brent crude dropped 70 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $62.99 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 71 cents, having lost 1.4 per cent on Monday. They both touched the lowest in more than one week.
Expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies or OPEC, would boost oil output from April are pushing prices lower, said Satoru Yoshida, a commodity analyst with Rakuten Securities.
“Concerns over an increase in OPEC-supply and an end of Saudi Arabia’s voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day this month weighed on oil prices,” he said.
The group meets on Thursday. They will discuss allowing as much as 1.5 million barrels per day (BPD) of crude back into the market.
