The world's most influential oil producers are opening the taps a little wider, and prices are drifting lower as a result.

The decision

A core group of OPEC+ members, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed at a meeting on Sunday to raise their combined output by 188,000 barrels per day for August, Egypt Oil & Gas reported. Saudi Arabia and Russia will each add about 62,000 barrels a day. It is the latest in a string of monthly increases through which the group has been gradually restoring production it had held back, The National reported.

Where prices stand

Crude has fallen a long way from its spring peak. Brent, the international benchmark, was trading around $72 a barrel, with U.S. crude in the high $60s, roughly back to where they sat before the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran sent prices spiking earlier this year, The National reported. At the height of that crisis, oil had climbed well above $110 a barrel.

The easing reflects two forces pulling in the same direction: more barrels coming to market, and a fading "war premium" as tensions in the Middle East have cooled and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has recovered.

Why OPEC+ is adding barrels

The group's strategy has shifted. Rather than holding back production to prop up prices, OPEC+ has been adding supply to protect its share of a market in which rivals outside the cartel, including U.S. shale producers and newer sources in the Americas, keep pumping more. Defending market share, even at the cost of lower prices, has become the priority.

What it could mean for drivers

For consumers, lower crude prices are the raw material for cheaper gasoline, though the pump tends to follow the oil market with a lag of weeks, and other costs come in between. California drivers, who pay some of the highest fuel prices in the country because of state taxes, special fuel blends and a tight refinery market, would feel any relief later and more modestly than much of the nation.

For now, the signal from the oil market is a steadier one than the spikes of the spring: more supply, softer prices and a producers' group choosing volume over the high prices it once worked to defend.