Oil Dips With OPEC Seen Hiking Output as Delta Variant Spreads

  • OPEC+ may boost output as much as 1 million barrels a day: RBC
  • Delta variant causing new restrictions in Australia, Asia
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
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Oil fell the most in a week with the market expecting OPEC+ producers to increase supply at an upcoming meeting at a time when the delta variant is threatening to slow a recovery in demand.

Futures in New York closed 1.5% lower. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies will meet Thursday, when they may decide to boost output by 500,000 to 1 million barrels a day in August, according to a RBC Capital Markets report. Meanwhile, the spread of the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus is resulting in renewed lockdowns across parts of Asia and Australia.