The U.S. government has asked Saudi Arabia and some other members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, to raise oil production by approximately 1 million barrels per day, Bloomberg News reported June 5, citing people familiar with the matter.
Brent crude oil tumbled 1.5% to $74.16 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange as of 6:30 a.m. ET.
Washington's request to hike output by a specific quantity is unusual, despite lawmakers' common criticism of the OPEC in times of high oil prices, the sources added.
The request follows U.S. sanctions on Iran as it withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear pact in May, which may result in "a million Iranian barrels off the market," according to a note from Brown Brothers Harriman.
"Saudi Arabia and Russia already appear to be boosting output, and they are among the only ones thought to have the spare capacity," the note added.
The U.S. request comes ahead of the OPEC's meeting June 22 in Vienna, Austria.
