Oil producers give Trump gift of increased output

Eight members of the OPEC+ oil cartel, led by Saudi Arabia, said Thursday that they would accelerate their previously planned schedule to gradually add about 2.2 million barrels a day to the oil market.

- STANLEY REED

The producers, including Russia, will add a combined 411,000 barrels a day in May, equivalent to three monthly increases, they said in a news release. They had already agreed in March to begin producing more oil this month.

Oil prices fell sharply Thursday, weighed down by both the fear that increasing trade frictions would torpedo global growth and the prospect of increased supplies of oil. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 6%, and West Texas Intermediate, the US standard, dropped 6.6%.