Singapore — Brent crude oil prices fell more than 1.5% on Monday as traders factored in an expected output increase that was agreed at the headquarters of oil cartel Opec in Vienna on Friday. Despite this, analysts said global oil markets were likely to remain relatively tight this year. Brent crude futures were at $74.22 a barrel at 4.55am GMT, down 1.8% from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $68.42 a barrel, down 0.2%, supported more than Brent by a slight drop in US drilling activity and a Canadian supply outage. Prices initially jumped after the Opec deal was announced late last week as it was not seen boosting supply by as much as some had expected. Opec and non-Opec partners including Russia have since 2017 cut output by 1.8-million barrels a day to tighten the market and prop up prices. Largely because of unplanned disruptions in places like Venezuela and Angola, the group’s output has been below the targeted cuts, which it now says will...
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