Oil prices drop ahead of OPEC + meeting

Oil prices accelerated their decline during Tuesday's trading. The current quotation for Brent is $71.40 per barrel, WTI is $68.44 per barrel. However, both benchmarks hold near July highs, with Brent peaking since 2018 and WTI since 2014.

Market participants are watching the recovery in production in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida, and also await the next OPEC+ meeting (the meeting of ministers is scheduled for 18:00 Moscow time on September 1). Oil prices are under pressure due to fears that power outages and flooding in Louisiana after the hurricane will limit demand from refineries.

An important OPEC+ meeting will take place tomorrow. Earlier, the administration of US President Joe Biden called on OPEC and partners to increase oil production in order to curb the rise in gasoline prices. And before that, the organization agreed to increase production by 400 thousand barrels per day per month until the end of December. Experts predict that this plan is unlikely to be changed at tomorrow's meeting, despite pressure from the United States.