Oil prices steadied on Wednesday after a steep drop in the previous session, following the cancellation of talks among OPEC+ producers that raised the prospect that the world’s major crude exporters will turn on the taps to gain market share. Brent crude was up 3 cents at $74.56 a barrel by 0115 GMT, after slumping more than 3% on Tuesday. U.S. oil was up 7 cents at $73.44 a barrel, having declined by more than 2% in the previous session. Energy ministers from OPEC+, a grouping that includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) along with Russia and other oil producing countries, ended talks on supply policy on Monday. Divisions between Saudi Arabia, the biggest OPEC producer, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which opposed extending supply constraints designed to support prices after the fall in demand from the pandemic, were the main reason behind the failure of the discussions. OPEC voted on Friday to raise production by about 2 million barrels per day from August to December and to extend the remaining output reductions to the end of next year, but UAE resistance scuppered an agreement.
