Oil-producing countries strike deal to increase production

A coalition of oil-rich nations has agreed to increase petroleum production as demand for gas ticks back up amid the easing of coronavirus restrictions, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other Russia-led allies agreed late Wednesday to increase production by 1.6 million barrels a day, easing an agreement reached in April to cut oil production by nearly 10 million barrels per day, roughly 10 percent of global demand.

The latest agreement more broadly calls for a 2 million-barrel-a-day increase, though countries that lagged in implementing the earlier cuts will still have to make up for another 400,000 barrels through the end of October.

The deal is part of an effort to stabilize oil prices that dropped significantly as the coronavirus pandemic spread in Europe and the U.S., with prices in some parts of America dipping below $1.

Oil trading hovered at around $40 a barrel Thursday, up from a record of negative $37 as the futures market for petroleum crashed in late April.