Oil prices drop after OPEC+ reaffirms supply return as demand wavers

TOKYO (Reuters) -Oil prices fell on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to keep its policy of gradually returning supply to the market at a time when coronavirus cases around the world are surging and many U.S. refiners, a key source of crude demand, remained offline.

Brent crude was down by 16 cents, or 0.2%, at $71.43 a barrel by 0422 GMT, after dropping 4 cents on Wednesday. U.S. oil fell 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $68.36 a barrel, after rising 9 cents in the previous session.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers including Russia, together known as OPEC+, agreed on Wednesday to continue a policy of phasing out record production reductions by adding 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) each month to the market.