Iraq’s total oil exports for August rose to 3.054 million barrels per day (bpd)

Situated in southeast Venezuela, the Orinoco Belt contains some of the largest reserves of crude in the world, but the oil needs dilution and upgrading because of its extremely high viscosities and heavy metal content.

Brent was down 21 cents or 0.3% at $72.49, WTI fell 50 cents or 0.7% to $68.24.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia, collectively known as OPEC+, will meet on Sept. 1 to discuss the previously agreed increase of 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) for the next several months.

U.S. Rig Count is up 5 from last week to 508 , Canada Rig Count is down 9 from last week to 147.

Brent rose 98 cents, or 1.4%, to $72.05 a barrel, WTI climbed 93 cents, or 1.4%, to $68.35 a barrel.

OPEC, Russia and nine other countries agreed in July to increase crude production by 400,000 b/d starting August through the end of 2022, a quantity that many analysts said would be insufficient to meet demand in the short-term, given seasonal consumption patterns and the world's recovery from the pandemic.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 3.0 million barrels from the previous week to 432.6 million barrels.

Brent was down 71 cents, or 1%, at $71.54 a barrel, WTI was down 77 cents, or 1.10%, at $67.59 a barrel.

Preliminary production figures for July 2021 show an average daily production of 2 035 000 barrels of oil, NGL and condensate.

U.S. Rig Count is up 3 from last week to 503, Canada Rig Count is down 8 from last week to 156.

Brent dropped 9 cents, or 0.1%, to $70.96 a barrel, WTI fell 19 cents, or 0.3%, to $67.35.

Brent fell by $2.43, or 3.5%, to $68.27 a barrel, WTI fell by $2.43, or 3.5%, to $68.27 a barrel.

The 19 countries with quotas under the OPEC+ deal produced 35.99 million b/d in July, despite having a collective ceiling of 36.34 million b/d.

The Worldwide Rig Count for July was 1,380, up 55 from the 1,325 counted in June 2021,