In the July to September period this year, oil prices saw a massive surge of almost 30% over the previous quarter as supply cuts by OPEC+ nations diminished stockpiles, and tightened the markets.

On Friday, Brent crude contracts for a November delivery fell almost 0.1%, at $95.31 per barrel. However it was still up 2.2% for the week, up 9.7% for the month, and 27.7% for the quarter. At the same time, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped one percentage point, settling at $90.79 per barrel, marking a gain for the week of 0.8%, a monthly gain of 8.6%, and up 28.5% for the quarter.

Experts predict that for the rest of the year, the price of oil will be dominated by the supply cuts announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, together known as OPEC+, and prices will remain elevated throughout

that period. There is another meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee panel of the alliance scheduled for October 4th.

Earlier in the month, oil-producing leader and the leader of the OPEC cartel Saudi Arabia announced it would be extending its voluntary production cuts of one million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of the year. At the same time, Russia, the second-largest crude producer in the world, also pledged to extend its voluntary production cuts at a level of 300,000 barrels per day for the remainder of the year.

In addition, the Russian government announced it would be introducing a temporary ban on foreign sales of diesel and gasoline in an effort to stabilize its own domestic fuel market.

More concerning, however, is the tightening of supplies at the delivery hub for Nymex futures, in Cushing, Oklahoma. Stocks at the facility fell by 943,000 barrels for the fourth week of September off of strong demand for refining and export.