Oil prices slip after OPEC+ agree to ease output cuts

* OPEC+ to ease some output cuts between May and July
* Iran, U.S. to hold indirect talks on nuclear deal from
Tues

By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE, April 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices edged down in
early Asian trade on Monday after OPEC+ agreed last week to
gradually ease some of its production cuts between May and July.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 for June fell 16 cents, or 0.2%,
to $64.70 a barrel by 2351 GMT while U.S. West Texas
Intermediate CLc1 crude for May was at $61.32 a barrel, down
13 cents, or 0.2%.
Both contracts settled up more than $2 a barrel after the
OPEC+ decision and on optimism about energy demand after U.S.
President Joe Biden outlined a $2 trillion infrastructure
spending plan. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries,
Russia and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, agreed to ease
production curbs by 350,000 barrels per day (bpd) in May,
another 350,000 bpd in June and further 400,000 bpd or so in
July. The decision came after the new U.S. administration called
on Saudi Arabia to keep energy affordable for consumers despite
demand concerns as parts of Europe remained under lockdown while
Japan could expand emergency measures as needed to contain a new
wave of coronavirus infections. Under Thursday's agreement, OPEC+ cuts would be just above
6.5 million bpd from May, compared with slightly below 7 million
bpd in April.
Most of the increase in supplies will come from the world's
top exporter, Saudi Arabia, which said it was phasing out its
extra voluntary cuts by July, a move that will add 1 million
bpd.
This week, investors are focused on indirect talks in Vienna
between Iran and the United States as part of broader
negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and
global powers. Ahead of the talks, Iran's foreign ministry said it wanted
the United States to lift all sanctions and rejected any
"step-by-step" easing of restrictions. Eurasia's analyst Henry Rome said he expects U.S. sanctions,
including restrictions on the sale of Iranian oil, to be lifted
only after these talks are completed and until Iran returns to
compliance.
"Diplomacy could stretch for months and nuclear compliance
could take as long as three months," he said in a note, adding
that implementation of such a deal and a ramp-up of oil
exports could stretch into early 2022.