Oil prices fell on Friday as investors weighed expectations of an increase in OPEC+ supply starting in October and dwindling hopes for a significant U.S. interest rate cut. Brent crude futures for October delivery dropped $1.14 (1.43%) to $78.80 a barrel, ending the week down 0.3% and the month down 2.4%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell $2.36 (3.11%) to $73.55, down 1.7% for the week and 3.6% for August. OPEC+ is expected to proceed with an oil output increase in October, despite Libyan production outages and some members’ cuts to compensate for overproduction. “OPEC+ talking about going ahead with tapering off production cuts was the headline that really sunk us today,” said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group. New data showed strong U.S. consumer spending in July, reducing hopes for a half-percentage-point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month. Flynn added that “modest inflation could solidify that we will only get a quarter percentage-point cut,” rather than a larger one. Libya’s National Oil Corporation reported that recent oilfield closures have reduced the country’s production by about 63%, potentially reaching 900,000 to 1 million barrels per day. Despite this, Tim Snyder of Matador Economics observed that “there is a lot of negative inertia in the market pulling prices down,” noting that Libya’s impact on market prices varied from day to day. Iraq also plans to reduce its oil output next month after exceeding its OPEC+ quota, potentially cutting production to between 3.85 million and 3.9 million barrels per day. Meanwhile, U.S. active oil rigs remained unchanged at 483 this week, with a slight increase in August, according to Baker Hughes.