The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as well as other non-OPEC members, agreed on Thursday to extend an oil production cut until the end of the first quarter in 2018.
Oil prices fell more than 5% on the news, as the deal fell far short of recently heightened expectations that cuts might be extended 12 months, or that the 1.8 million barrels per day cut might be deepened.
“Members participating in the output deal failing to agree on deeper cuts have given a bearish signal to the market as an extension alone may not rebalance the market fast enough,” Abhishek Kumar of Interfax Energy’s Global Gas Analytics was quoted by Reuters as saying.
WTI Crude fell 5.32% to settle at US$48.63 a barrel, while Brent was down 5.11% to US$51.2.