Oil drops after OPEC+ deal

Brent crude oil fell yesterday as investors prepared for an extra 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in output to hit the markets after OPEC and its partners agreed to raise production.

Despite the increase, which is intended to stop the gap between global supply and demand from becoming too wide, analysts said global oil markets would likely remain relatively tight this year.

Brent crude futures fell $1.15 to $74.40 a barrel by 1448 GMT, while US light crude rose 20 cents to $68.78 a barrel, supported in part by a Canadian supply outage.

Prices initially jumped after an OPEC deal to increase output was announced late last week, as it was not seen boosting supply by as much as some had expected.

OPEC and non-OPEC partners including Russia have since 2017 cut output by 1.8 million bpd to tighten the market and prop up prices.