Crude oil futures wiped out early gains and ended sharply lower on Friday amid worries about demand outlook with aggressive monetary tightening by central banks raising the risk of a recession. Initially, oil prices traded higher amid speculation OPEC producers will announce an output cut after their meeting on October 5. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, a group known as OPEC+, is scheduled to meet next week. It is expected that the group will agree to cut crude output in order to support falling prices. At the previous meeting, OPEC+ reversed the 100,000-barrels-per-day increase for September and returned the October quota to the levels from August.
Benchmark crude oil futures for November delivery fell $1.74 or 2.1 percent at $79.49 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery dropped $2.04 or about 2.3 percent to settle at $85.14 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.