Oil prices fall after OPEC raises crude output as US Covid-19 cases surge

Both benchmarks rose 2% on Wednesday following a sharp drawdown in US crude inventories

Oil prices fell 1% on Thursday after OPEC+ agreed to ease record supply curbs and as new infections of the novel coronavirus continue to surge in the United States.

Both benchmark Brent and U.S. crude have remained above $40 a barrel for the last several weeks. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, lowered daily supply beginning in May and demand worldwide has rebounding, helping prices to stabilize.

Fears of a second wave of cases of Covid-19 - led by the United States - are keeping the rally in check. Nearly 600,000 people worldwide have died