Oil Prices Are Falling. OPEC Is Reaching the Limits of Its Power.

Oil prices were down early Monday as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries prepared to meet later this week.

The meeting was supposed to be held over the weekend and has now been moved to Thursday, and will take place online rather than in person. According to a Reuters report, the reason for rescheduling it was that Nigeria and Angola are pushing for a higher output allowance. Both countries were given lower allowances in June after previously not being able to pump enough to meet their quotas.

OPEC as a whole is expected to extend production cuts, if not at this meeting then soon. Saudi Arabia and Russia are already lowering output more than OPEC quotas require on a voluntary basis to keep global prices high.

While OPEC is still expected to come to an agreement by Thursday, the disagreement shows the strains the bloc faces to keep all its members happy. All oil producers benefit from higher prices, but countries also want to sell as much oil as possible to maximize revenues.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down 0.6% at $80.07 a barrel. It briefly dropped below $80 overnight. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. standard, slipped 0.8% to $74.90 a barrel. Both contracts are down about 7% this year.

Write to Brian Swint at [email protected]

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