Oil Prices Sink To 2-Month Lows As Traders Await OPEC Summit

Investing.com – Oil prices sank on Monday, pressured by expectations that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies will decide to boost production at its meeting this week.

Prices took another leg lower as China threatened duties on American crude imports in an escalating trade dispute with Washington.

August , the global benchmark, was down 44 cents, or 0.6%, to $73.00 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange at 3:50AM ET (0750GMT), sitting around its lowest level since May 2.

Elsewhere, U.S. benchmark oil, August lost $1.04, or 1.6%, to $63.83 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, near levels last seen on April 10.

Crude prices ended lower last week as traders braced for higher global supplies.

Oil ministers from OPEC, Russia and other major producing countries will meet in Vienna on Thursday and Friday to review their current production agreement that has held back 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from the market for the past 18 months.

Russia has pushed for returning a million barrels per day back into the market relatively quickly. However, Saudi Arabia would like to try a lower amount to prevent the price from dropping too much, experts said.

However, not all OPEC members agree. Iran, Venezuela and Iraq have all said the current production agreement should stay in place.

Meanwhile, China on Friday said it would slap duties on American export products, including crude oil, as the Asian nation planned retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.

That could mean that the world’s biggest importer of oil could eschew U.S. products at a time when exports of crude to Asia have been rising.

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