Oil prices make slight decline after OPEC agreement

OPEC’s agreement to increase its oil production kept crude oil prices nearly unchanged on Monday even as ship traffic increased in the Strait of Hormuz and prospects of peace between Iran and the U.S. was in a gray zone.

Prices closed after Iran held a massive funeral for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in US and Israeli air strikes at the start of the war. President Trump had said over the weekend that the U.S. gave Iran “a week off” for the funeral.

Reuters reported that government data showed U.S. emergency crude stocks had fallen to their lowest level since April 1983.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures expiring in August dipped 0.1%or about 5 cents to settle at $68.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude futures expiring in September slipped 0.1%or about 2 cents a barrel to finish at $72.03.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, agreed over the weekend to increase production targets by 188,000 barrels a day from August, extending its phased rollback of voluntary output cuts. While much of the additional production has yet to reach the market, the decision reinforces expectations that supply will continue to recover as conditions in the Gulf normalize.

Natural gas prices closed with a gain of $0.054 or 1.69% at $3.250 MMBtu.

Monday saw more losses than gains among Oklahoma energy stocks. Unit Corporation led losers with a 5% drop for the day. Matrix Service Co. finished with a 4% gain.

Alliance Resource Partners LP