Oil futures posted a weekly decline of up to 2.45 percent despite expectation of interest rate cut in the United States and an extension of oil production cuts by Opec and its allies. Major global benchmark Brent ended the week lower by 1.78 percent. Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, fell to $82.08 a barrel from $83.57 a barrel during the week under review, showing a decrease of $1.49 on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. Other global benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, also closed the week lower to $78.01 from $79.97 a barrel, registering a weekly decrease of $1.96 (-2.45 percent). Several members of the Opec+ group oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, announced to extend oil output cuts as part of efforts to support market balance and stability. In total, Opec+ members are extending additional voluntary cuts of 2.2 million barrels per day to the end of second quarter, the Opec secretariat said in a statement. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and Opec’s largest producer, will extend its voluntary cut of one million bpd to the end of the second quarter of 2024. The production cap is in addition to the voluntary cut of 500,000 bpd announced by the kingdom in April 2023. The UAE will extend its additional voluntary cut of 163,000 bpd for the second quarter of 2024. The reduction is in addition to the voluntary cut of 144,000 bpd announced by the UAE in April 2023.