The price of Brent crude oil reached $68 per barrel

On Wednesday, oil quotes continued to rise: the price exceeded the level of $68 per barrel for the first time since June 24.

Traders are closely following the news from the Middle East, especially on Iran's nuclear program. The upcoming OPEC+ meeting this weekend is also in the spotlight. Eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq, are considering increasing production by 411,000 barrels per day in August, the same as in the last three months.

At the same time, analysts note that this increase is already embedded in prices and is unlikely to cause sharp fluctuations in the market.

Traders are also waiting for the weekly report of the US Department of Energy on oil reserves, which will be released at 17:30 Moscow time. According to API data, stocks rose by 680,000 barrels last week after falling by 4,277 barrels a week earlier. Gasoline stocks increased by 1.92 million barrels, distillate stocks decreased by 3.45 million barrels.