Oil prices drop after Opec deal and Covid infections rise

Crude oil price falls 7pc after cartel strikes output agreement

Opec strikes deal as Covid picks up. Photographer: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

Jill R Shah

OIL led losses in a broad market selloff while a resurgent virus threatened the global economic recovery just as Opec+ agreed to boost crude supply.

Futures in New York lost as much as 7pc yesterday, the biggest decline since March. Opec and its allies agreed to monthly supply hikes of 400,000 barrels a day, an increase that the International Energy Agency said “may go a long way” toward closing the supply deficit in the market.