By Arathy Somasekhar
HOUSTON (Reuters) -Oil prices settled 3% lower on Monday as OPEC+ plans for another increase to oil output in November and the resumption of oil exports by Iraq’s Kurdistan region via Turkey raised the global supply outlook.
Brent crude futures dropped $2.16, or 3.1%, to close at $67.97 a barrel by 11:33 a.m. ET (1533 GMT) after settling at their highest since July 31 on Friday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down $2.27, or 3.45%, at $63.45.
OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers, meets on Sunday and is likely to confirm a production boost of at least 137,000 barrels per day for November to gain market share, said three sources.
OPEC+ has been pumping almost 500,000 bpd less than its targets.
“With OPEC+ pivoting toward market share, fundamentals look softer, and oversupply concerns prevail,” Rystad Energy’s chief economist Claudio Galimberti said.
Crude oil flowed through a pipeline from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq to Turkey on Saturday for the first time in 2-1/2 years, Iraq’s oil ministry said.
Crude oil flows from Kurdistan to Turkey’s Ceyhan port are running at 150,000-160,000 bpd, two industry sources told Reuters.
The resumption is expected eventually to bring up to 230,000 bpd of crude back to international markets.
Last week, prices for both crude benchmarks gained more than 4% after Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure dented the country’s fuel exports.
“Ukraine naturally smells blood here … If anything Ukraine will likely double up on its strategic attacks on Russian refineries,” SEB analysts said.
Russia pounded Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early on Sunday in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since Moscow’s invasion in 2022.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday it was time for Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a 20-point peace proposal that he agreed to with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the future of Gaza.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Enes Tunagur, Florence Tan and Jeslyn Lerh;Editing by David Goodman, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Nia Williams and David Gregorio)
