OPEC+ has agreed a further increase in output targets from August, the group said in a statement on Sunday, adding to global supply at a time when oil prices are falling due to the gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz for oil exports.
The oil-producing group agreed during an online meeting to increase quotas by 188,000 barrels per day from August, on top of similar increases for June and July.
The seven core members of OPEC+, which groups OPEC and allied producers including Russia, have hiked their output quotas from April through July by almost 800,000 bpd.
OPEC+ output fell to 33.13 million bpd in May, according to OPEC data, from 42.77 million bpd in February.
Despite persisting supply disruptions, oil prices have returned to pre-war levels, pressured by lower Chinese imports, higher exports from non-Middle East producers, and a record global strategic stock release coordinated by the International Energy Agency.
"The group of seven kept unwinding their production cuts as widely expected," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. "The near-term focus will remain on how many tankers will manage to cross the Strait of Hormuz and how quickly demand and Chinese crude imports recover."
A memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran to end the war has also helped convince traders that supply will ultimately return to normal levels.
Brent crude prices traded near $72 per barrel on Friday, down from recent peaks of more than $120 per barrel and back to levels traded just before the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.
Those seven producers — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman — are boosting output as part of the phased rollback of a 1.65 million bpd supply cut agreed in 2023, when the group still included the UAE.
