Oil prices fell on Thursday, with WTI crude trading around $68.3 a barrel, after OPEC+ agreed on Wednesday to continue a policy of phasing out record production reductions by adding 400,000 barrels per day each month until the end of December, despite pressure from the US to pump more and OPEC’s own data showing the market will face a deficit until the end of 2021. Meanwhile, a Reuters poll showed Saudi Arabia is expected to cut prices for most crude grades it sells to Asia in October, the first Saudi price reduction in five months. Elsewhere, offshore oil and gas production in the Gulf of Mexico gradually recovers, after being hit by Hurricane Ida earlier this week. In inventory news, the EIA data showed US gasoline inventories rising by 1.3 million barrels last week, against market expectations of a 1.6 million barrel drop; while crude inventories declined more than expected.
