Representatives of the world's major oil producing countries voted Wednesday to increase production slightly, far less than U.S. President Joe Biden hoped for to boost supplies and ease the pain at the pump for cash-strapped Americans.
Ministers for members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Saudi Arabia and Russia, known as OPEC+, raised its output targets by 100,000 barrels a day for September.
The move, which was considered mostly symbolic, was equivalent to 86 seconds of global oil demand, analysts said, adding that it was considered in the industry as an insult to Biden.
With the decrease in production set to expire next month, oil ministers at this year's conference faced increasing pressure to act amid staggering inflation combined with volatile oil markets are causing concern about the future health of the world economy.
