Crude oil futures, after showing sharp upside move in previous session, retreated on Friday and ended significantly lower after a private report stated that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, is set to proceed with a planned oil output hike from October, as the Libyan outages and pledged cuts by some members to compensate for overproduction counter the impact of sluggish demand. As per the report, more than half of Libya’s oil production, or about 700,000 barrels per day, was offline on Thursday and exports were halted at several ports following a standoff between rival political factions.
Benchmark crude oil futures for October delivery fell $2.36 or 3.1 percent to settle at $73.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery dropped $1.14 or 1.43 percent to settle at $78.80 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.