OPEC’s data show that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ weekly basket price stood at 79.42 dollars during the week ending on June 6.

OPEC’s weekly basket price a week earlier, ending on May 30, stood at 83.21 dollars, implying the price of the OPEC basket of twelve crudes has fallen more than 3 dollars last week.

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Djeno (Congo), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basrah Medium (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

The 188th Meeting of the OPEC Conference, the 54th Meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) and the 37th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) were held on 2 June via videoconference.

In a press release at the end of OPEC+ ministerial meeting, the oil producing group reaffirmed its commitment to the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) and decided to extend the level of overall crude oil production for OPEC and non-OPEC Participating Countries in the DoC into the next year.

Meanwhile, there is an assumption that eight members of OPEC+ decision, on June 2, to gradually phase out 2.2 million barrels per day of their voluntary production cuts has been the main reason behind falling prices.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate benchmarks followed more and less a similar path last week so that their average weekly price was down about 4 percent.

Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman met in person in Riyadh on June 2 on the sidelines of the 37th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting (ONOMM) and decided to phase out 2.2 million barrels of crude oil cuts per day they agreed on in November 2023.

The countries will start phasing out cuts on a monthly basis from October 2024 to the end of September 2025, a process that may be paused or reversed depending on market conditions.