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Oil prices dropped by 1% on Friday and were set for their steepest weekly losses since late March, as traders grew cautious before an OPEC+ meeting that will determine the group’s output policy for June.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid by $1.11, or 1.9%, to $58.13 per barrel at 1:23 p.m. ET (1723 GMT), while Brent crude futures dropped 94 cents, or 1.5%, to $61.19 a barrel.
For the week, Brent was on course to fall about 8.6%, with WTI heading for an 8% weekly decline.
According to three sources cited by Reuters on Friday, the OPEC+ meeting, initially set for Monday, was moved forward to Saturday. The reason for the rescheduling wasn’t immediately clear. The group — consisting of OPEC members and allies like Russia — is debating whether to boost oil production more significantly in June or maintain a more modest increase, two sources said. Either way, traders were preparing for a rise in supply, even as concerns over a global economic slowdown and a prolonged U.S.-China trade war led analysts to revise down oil demand forecasts for the year.
“This market is all about OPEC now, with even the tariff war taking a back seat,” said Scott Shelton, energy specialist at United ICAP. Reuters also reported that Saudi Arabia — OPEC+’s de facto leader — has told allies and industry players that it is reluctant to support oil prices further by cutting supply.
Currently, OPEC+ is curbing production by over 5 million barrels per day.
Markets also remained wary over potential progress in U.S.-China trade negotiations. On Friday, Beijing announced it was reviewing a U.S. proposal to hold talks in an effort to resolve President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Still, some analysts remained skeptical. “There is some optimism around U.S.-China relations, but the signals remain very tentative,” said Harry Tchilinguirian, research head at Onyx Capital Group. “It’s still a fluid situation — one step forward, two steps back when it comes to tariffs.”
Friday’s oil price drop was somewhat offset by gains in equity markets. U.S. stocks climbed following better-than-expected jobs data, which showed a larger increase in payrolls last month, noted UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Thursday threat of secondary sanctions on countries buying Iranian oil offered some support to oil prices, as it could tighten global supply. The threat came after the U.S. postponed nuclear talks with Iran and may further complicate trade talks with China — the largest buyer of Iranian crude.
