Discipline & deviation: Opec action to keep oil prices at reasonable levels

Brent crude oil futures were already dipping to nearly $61 a barrel before this announcement, and prices might go below $60 once traders have had a chance to digest this news

At an online meeting over the weekend, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) plus associates like Russia — known as Opec+ — agreed to step up the rate of oil production. In June, output will be increased by over 400,000 barrels a day, according to the grouping. This is a second consecutive month that it has done this, and it takes the amount by which daily production will increase over the April-June quarter to almost a million barrels. Brent crude oil futures were already dipping to nearly $61 a barrel before this announcement, and prices might go below $60