Oil set for biggest monthly loss this year before OPEC+ meeting

OPEC+ forecasts a supply deficit this year even as it continues to add production, with a surplus expected in 2022.

Oil headed for the biggest monthly loss since October as investors weighed the prospect of additional OPEC+ production and the restoration of crude output in the U.S. after Hurricane Ida. West Texas Intermediate fell 1.3% in New York and has declined about 7% this month. While Gulf of Mexico crude producers are expected to gradually resume service after Ida crashed ashore in Louisiana, local refineries may be slower to return. Data in Asia, meanwhile, continued to show the impact of the delta variant outbreak in recent months. China’s service sector contracted, while manufacturing figures narrowly missed estimates. Japan’s oil demand in July was down about 8% from 2019 levels, according to Bloomberg calculations from government data.