Baku, Azerbaijan, May 15
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
World oil prices are rising on May 15 after the positive statement jointly made by Russia and Saudi Arabia regarding the extension of the OPEC oil output cut deal.
The price for July futures of Brent crude oil has increased by 2.44 percent to $52.08 per barrel as of 09:23 (GMT +4).
Meanwhile, the price for June futures of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) has grown by 2.49 percent and stood at $49.03 per barrel.
Russia and Saudi Arabia will propose during the OPEC meeting to be held May 24-25 to extend the oil output deal by nine months.
Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Khalid Al-Falih and Minister of Energy of Russia Alexander Novak held a meeting on May 15 to discuss the progress on their bilateral cooperation and consult on the state of global oil markets as stipulated by the joint declaration signed by both sides on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016, Reuters reported.
The two ministers agreed to do whatever it takes to achieve the desired goal of stabilizing the market and reducing commercial oil inventories to their 5 year average level, as well as to underscore the determination of oil producers to ensure market stability, predictability and sustainable development – the joint actions of the participating producers should be extended by 9 months, through March 31, 2018.
In December 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached their first deal since 2001 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices.
Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from Jan. 1, 2017 for six months, extendable for another six months.
OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from Jan. 1.
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