OndoReporter | Oil price rises to $40.71 as OPEC mends fences

OndoReporter | Oil price rises to $40.71 as OPEC mends fences



Oil price rose, yesterday, after the world’s
biggest suppliers firmed up plans to meet to
discuss an output freeze.

Oil producers, including Gulf OPEC members,
support holding talks next month on a deal to
keep production at current levels, even if Iran
declines to participate, OPEC sources said on
Wednesday.

A meeting would increase the likelihood of the
first global supply deal in 15 years.
US crude was up 65 cents at 39.11 dollars a
barrel at 0452 GMT, having earlier risen as
high as $39.38. Brent crude rose 38 cents to
$40.71.

“A smaller than expected gain in inventories in
the US also supported prices,” ANZ said in a
morning note.

Crude inventories increased 1.3 million barrels
in the week to March 11 to 523.2 million, a
much smaller build than the 3.4 million-barrel
increase expected by analysts.

The market is also rallying after a less
hawkish US monetary outlook, as the US
Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and
indicated two rate hikes this year instead of
the four expected.

Qatari oil minister, Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-
Sada, said producers from within and outside
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) will meet in Doha on April 17
to discuss plans for a freeze in output.
The initiative was supported by around 15
OPEC and non-OPEC producers, accounting for
about 73 per cent of global oil production, the
minister said.

Since the freeze was first proposed last month,
prices have recovered about 50 per cent from
decade-low levels.