- Oil prices fell to their lowest level in 9 months early on Wednesday morning on concerns about demand and potential supply increases.
- OPEC+ is reconsidering its plan to ease production cuts in October due to the price slump.
- Oil prices have since recovered slightly on the news that OPEC+ is considering maintaining its production cuts.
LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – OPEC+ is discussing a delay in a planned output increase next month as oil prices hit their lowest in 9 months, three sources from the producer group told Reuters on Wednesday. Oil prices have been falling together with other asset classes on concerns about a weak global economy and particularly soft data from China, the world’s biggest oil importer. Last week, the group looked set to proceed with a 180,000 barrel per day (bpd) hike in October, but market volatility from oil facility shutdowns in Libya and a weak demand outlook have raised concern within the group, one of the sources said.
There were suggestions to delay the increase, one of the sources said. Another said a delay was looking highly possible.
Eight members of the OPEC+ – which includes its allies – are scheduled to raise output by 180,000 bpd in October as part of a plan to begin unwinding their most recent layer of output cuts of 2.2 million bpd while keeping other cuts in place until the end of next year. Prices have experienced high volatility in recent weeks as a standoff between rival factions in OPEC producer Libya over control of the central bank led to a loss of at least 700,000 bpd of production.
Prices slumped by about 5% on Tuesday on news that a possible deal to resolve the conflict was in the works.
” RBC Capital analyst Helima Croft said in a note. After prices plunged by nearly 5% on Tuesday, reports began to emerge on Wednesday that the OPEC+ group is now reconsidering the unwinding of the cuts as of October.
 “The further pressure we see on prices the more likely that OPEC+ will be forced to scrap plans to bring supply back onto the market,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note on Wednesday. “However, with the balance looking soft through 2025, the question is when the group will eventually be able to bring supply back onto the market without putting significant pressure on prices,” they added.