Oil prices hovered near four-month lows in Asia on Wednesday as markets digested an OPEC+ decision to boost supply later this year and following an increase in U.S. crude and fuel stocks.
Brent crude futures were up 4 cents at $77.56 a barrel by 0307 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were flat at $73.25 a barrel.
Both contracts fell nearly a dollar on Tuesday to their lowest settlement levels since early February and had declined around $3 a barrel on Monday.
The slide followed news from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies of plans to increase supply from October despite recent signs of weakening demand growth.
“Brent remains under pressure as a corner of the market continues to view OPEC’s proposed taper timeline for the voluntary cuts as a binding commitment to increase by 500,000 barrels per day in Q4 2024 irrespective of the fundamental oil outlook or sentiment come summer’s end,” RBC Capital head of commodities research, Helima Croft, said in a market note.
However, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, has said OPEC+ would pause the unwinding of the cuts or reverse them if demand wasn’t strong enough to absorb the barrels.
