DTN Oil Update

Karim Bastati
DTN Analyst

VIENNA (DTN) -- Oil futures steadied Monday morning, shrugging off OPEC's larger-than-expected production hike for August. On Sunday, OPEC delegates agreed to accelerate the unwinding of additional voluntary cuts by eight member states, aiming to raise August production by 548,000 barrels per day (bpd).

NYMEX-traded WTI for August remained unchanged to trade near $67.00 barrel (bbl), and ICE Brent for September delivery advanced $0.45 bbl to $68.75 bbl.

August RBOB gasoline futures gained $0.0158 to $2.1344 gallon, and the front-month ULSD futures contract jumped $0.0335 to trade near $2.4033 gallon.

The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.168 points to 96.990.

An increase of 411,000 bpd from July levels was already priced in, the same amount quotas have been raised by for the last three consecutive months. The market's lack of reaction to the larger-than-expected output hike may come down to the growing gap between production targets and de facto output. According to OPEC's latest monthly oil market report, OPEC+ collectively produced 180,000 bpd more in May than in April, and production from the eight member countries who had agreed to raise output by a combined 411,000 bpd was up 153,000 bpd, month-on-month.