Oil prices were opened at an unchanged level on Friday, July 17, amid growing uncertainties about fuel demand recovery as new cases of coronavirus surge in several countries across the globe. At the same moment, major oil producers have just got set to loosen the oil production cuts. The U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil CLc1 futures increased by $0.01 to $40.76/barrel at 0204 GMT while Brent crude LCOc1 futures still unmoved at $43.37/barrel. Both futures were slightly up at the end of the week after contracting by 1% on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to loosen the record production cuts of 9.7 million barrel/day with an addition by 2 million barrel/day from August. The actual output addition will be closer to 1.1 million barrel/day as for countries with low compliance like Iraq, will compensate the overproductions made in previous months with further cuts in August-September.
The United States announced at least 75,000 new coronavirus infection cases, marking a new daily record while Australia and Spain reported higher jumps in more than two months along with hikes in India and Brazil new cases, pressuring a second lockdown measures.
