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Oil prices increase as OPEC+ agrees on a slower rate of production increases from October

Early Monday morning, oil prices increased, reversing the losses of last week, after OPEC+ decided over the weekend that they would increase output, but at a slower rate than October, due to a predicted weakening in global demand.

Brent crude rose 23 cents (0.4%) to $65.73 a bar by 2213 GMT. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude rose 21 cents (0.3%) to $62.08 a bar.

The two benchmarks both fell by over 2% Friday, as the weak U.S. employment report dimmed expectations for energy demand. Last week, they lost more than 3 percent.

OPEC+ - which includes the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia, and other allies - has agreed to increase oil production in October, as Saudi Arabia tries to regain its market share. However, the pace of the increases will be slower than previous months.

OPEC+ increased production in April, after years of cutting to support the oil markets. But the decision on Sunday to boost output further came as a shock amid a possible looming oil surplus during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.

In a Sunday online meeting, eight members of OPEC+ decided to increase production by 137,000 barrels a day from October. This is a much smaller increase than the monthly increases in September and August of approximately 555,000 bpd and 411,000 bpd between July and June. (Reporting and editing by Diane Craft; Yuka Obayashi)

(source: Reuters)