Saudi Arabia and allied oil producing countries said they will postpone a plan to gradually increase oil output until the end of the year, extending their output cuts by one month.
No reason was given for the move, which comes ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.
In June, OPEC said 2.2 million barrels a day in voluntary cuts were extended until September but would then be gradually reduced month by month until they are eliminated by September 2025. OPEC later extended the cuts until November.
Oil prices have been edging down as weak global demand overtakes the risk of a wider war in the Mideast.
Feds end Ford engine probe
The U.S. government’s auto safety regulator has ended a 2 1/2-year investigation into Ford engine failures after the company replaced engines or extended the warranty on some vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in documents posted Monday on its website that its analysis traced the problem to intake valves that can fracture inside some 2.7-liter and 3-liter turbocharged engines.
Documents say the probe opened in May of 2022 ended up covering more than 411,000 vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years including the Ford F-150 Bronco, Edge and Explorer as well as the Lincoln Aviator and Nautilus.
The agency was looking into catastrophic engine failures caused by intake valves fracturing, dropping into the cylinder and hitting the piston.
An analysis of failure report data found that the faulty valves were made from May through October of 2021, the agency said. Ford contended that not all valves produced during this period were faulty and that a vast majority of the failures happened before the vehicles were driven 20,000 miles.
