<p>Oil prices slid on Thursday after OPEC and allies such as Russia agreed to ease record supply curbs from August, though the drop was cushioned by hopes for a swift U.S. demand pick-up after a bigger-than-expected drawdown from the country's crude stocks.</p>.<p>Brent crude fell 13 cents, or 0.3%, at $43.66 a barrel by 0015 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 18 cents, or 0.4%, to $41.02 a barrel. They rose 2% the previous day, helped by the U.S. crude inventories drop.</p>.<p>The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, agreed on Wednesday to scale back oil production cuts from August as the global economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>OPEC+ has been cutting output since May by 9.7 million barrels per day, or 10% of global supply, but from August, cuts will officially taper to 7.7 million bpd until December.</p>.<p>"Some investors took profits after the OPEC+ decision, but a big draw in U.S. crude provided some support," Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Co said.</p>.<p>Data from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude inventories fell 7.5 million barrels last week, shrinking much more than the 2.1 million-barrel drop expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.</p>.<p>Despite the official OPEC+ accord, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said production cuts in August and September would end up amounting to about 8.1 million-8.3 million bpd, more than the headline number. That's because countries in the grouping which over-produced earlier this year would compensate by making extra August-September cuts, the minister said.</p>.<p>Still, oil prices are expected to remain static as an increase in crude processed by refineries is likely to offset higher supply volumes, Rystad Energy said in a note.</p>.<p>"We find that prices will have to stay where they are for the rest of 2020 as any uptick will hurt already struggling refining margins and negatively impact the most-needed recovery in refinery runs," it said.</p>.<p>Elsewhere, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Wednesday that global oil markets are slowly rebalancing after the shocks seen during the coronavirus lockdown, with prices expected at about $40/barrel in the coming months. </p>
<p>Oil prices slid on Thursday after OPEC and allies such as Russia agreed to ease record supply curbs from August, though the drop was cushioned by hopes for a swift U.S. demand pick-up after a bigger-than-expected drawdown from the country's crude stocks.</p>.<p>Brent crude fell 13 cents, or 0.3%, at $43.66 a barrel by 0015 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped 18 cents, or 0.4%, to $41.02 a barrel. They rose 2% the previous day, helped by the U.S. crude inventories drop.</p>.<p>The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, agreed on Wednesday to scale back oil production cuts from August as the global economy slowly recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.</p>.<p>OPEC+ has been cutting output since May by 9.7 million barrels per day, or 10% of global supply, but from August, cuts will officially taper to 7.7 million bpd until December.</p>.<p>"Some investors took profits after the OPEC+ decision, but a big draw in U.S. crude provided some support," Kazuhiko Saito, chief analyst at Fujitomi Co said.</p>.<p>Data from the Energy Information Administration showed U.S. crude inventories fell 7.5 million barrels last week, shrinking much more than the 2.1 million-barrel drop expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.</p>.<p>Despite the official OPEC+ accord, Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said production cuts in August and September would end up amounting to about 8.1 million-8.3 million bpd, more than the headline number. That's because countries in the grouping which over-produced earlier this year would compensate by making extra August-September cuts, the minister said.</p>.<p>Still, oil prices are expected to remain static as an increase in crude processed by refineries is likely to offset higher supply volumes, Rystad Energy said in a note.</p>.<p>"We find that prices will have to stay where they are for the rest of 2020 as any uptick will hurt already struggling refining margins and negatively impact the most-needed recovery in refinery runs," it said.</p>.<p>Elsewhere, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Wednesday that global oil markets are slowly rebalancing after the shocks seen during the coronavirus lockdown, with prices expected at about $40/barrel in the coming months. </p>