Oil prices were down early Friday as OPEC postponed the decision to make further oil production cuts until its next ministerial meeting on Dec. 5 and 6 in Austria.
International benchmark Brent crude fell 0.56% on Thursday to close at $60.47 per barrel, representing a 0.31% decline from early trading at 0610 GMT when it cost $60.28 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate decreased 1.04% the previous day to finish at $55.17 a barrel, marking a 0.18% loss from early trading at 0610 GMT when it was priced at $55.07 per barrel.
At a technical meeting in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, the 14-nation members of OPEC, spearheaded by Saudi Arabia, and a group of 10 allied producing countries led by Russia, postponed making any decisions on further production cuts until December 2019.
However, Iraq and Nigeria, the two OPEC nations that have not been previously complying with their individual output cuts in recent months, pledged Thursday to lower their production levels in line with their respective caps.
While Iraq is expected to decrease its production level by 175,000 barrels per day (bpd), Nigeria is estimated to lower its output by 57,000 bpd, according to media outlets on site in Abu Dhabi.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr