OPEC+ members have reached a preliminary agreement to raise their collective oil output by about 548,000 barrels a day in September, according to delegates ahead of a ministerial videoconference scheduled for Sunday. The move would mark a sixth consecutive monthly increase and follows an identical boost in August as the producer group seeks to recover market share lost during the pandemic-era downturn. The planned hike would complete the reversal of the 2.2 million barrels a day of voluntary reductions introduced by eight core members in 2023. Since April, the alliance—led by Saudi Arabia and Russia—has stepped up output by 137,000 bpd, then 411,000 bpd in each of May, June and July, before accelerating to 548,000 bpd last month. The proposal also allows the United Arab Emirates to continue a separate gradual expansion of its quota. While the extra barrels have helped cool prices, analysts warn the faster supply growth could swing the market into surplus later this year as economic momentum softens. Brent futures settled below US$70 a barrel on Friday, leaving them almost 7 percent lower for 2025. A separate set of voluntary curbs totaling 1.66 million bpd remains in force until end-2026, and ministers have yet to signal when those barrels might return.