Crude oil prices were down more than $5 and product futures were sharply lower by midday Thursday, hit by a decision by OPEC and its allies to increase supply in May and energy demand fears a day after President Trump announced sweeping new tariffs.

At 11:40 a.m. ET, May West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $5.25 at $66.45/bbl and June WTI was about $5.15 lower at $66.05/bbl.

London-based June Brent was off by about $5 at $69.90/bbl and July Brent was $4.95 lower at $69.20/bbl.

Both oil benchmarks are on track for one of the largest single-session declines in the past five years.

Product futures also took crude's lead and traded sharply lower. May RBOB was 18.25cts lower at around $2.1485/gal and June RBOB was down 17.5cts at $2.141/gal. May ULSD was 15.15cts lower at $2.1705/gal and June ULSD was down by 14.75cts at $2.1460/gal.

Earlier Thursday, energy ministers of OPEC and its allies, a group also known as OPEC+, agreed to increase crude oil output by 411,000 b/d starting in May.

Analysts didn't expect such a large increase, and the decision came even as many market watchers suspect global oil supply is already outpacing demand.

The announcement added to the earlier drop in crude oil futures that began Wednesday evening when it was clear that the Trump administration had largely offered exemptions to oil imports from its broad-based tariffs.

Many economists fear Trump's tariffs may turn into a global trade war with major U.S. trading partners including Canada, Mexico, China and the EU, which would most likely hurt global economic growth.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 03, 2025 12:20 ET (16:20 GMT)

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