By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices rebounded more than $1 a barrel in early Asian trade on Monday after OPEC+ decided to increase output in July by the same amount as it did in each of the prior two months, in line with market expectation.
Brent crude futures climbed $1.06, or 1.69%, to $63.84 a barrel by 2244 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $61.95 a barrel, up $1.16, or 1.91%.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies decided on Saturday to raise output by 411,000 barrels per day in July, the third straight month of increase by the same amount, as the group known as OPEC+ looks to wrestle back market share and punish over-producers.
The group had been expected to discuss a bigger production hike.
“Had they gone through with a surprise larger amount, then Monday’s price open would have been pretty ugly indeed,” analyst Harry Tchilinguirian of Onyx Capital Group wrote on LinkedIn.
Oil traders said the decision for a 411,000-bpd output hike has already been priced into Brent and WTI futures which slipped more than 1% last week.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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