LONDON—Oil prices fell on Thursday after Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak played down the prospect of further OPEC+ production cuts at its meeting next week.
Brent crude futures was down 41 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $77.95 a barrel at 0815 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell 51 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $73.83.
“I don’t think that there will be any new steps, because just a month ago certain decisions were made regarding the voluntary reduction of oil production by some countries … ” Novak was quoted as saying by Izvestia newspaper.
In the previous session, oil prices were supported by a warning from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister that short-sellers betting oil prices will fall should “watch out” for pain….