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World oil prices jump ahead of OPEC+ meeting

22 September 2017 [18:04] - TODAY.AZ

By Azernews

World oil prices jumped during Asian trading on September 22, ahead of the OPEC + meeting at the ministerial level.

Brent crude is up 0.04 percent at $56.41 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is 0.14 percent up at $50.62 per barrel, Reuters reported.

OPEC and other major oil producers such as Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan reached an agreement in December 2016 to remove 1.8 million barrels a day from the market.  The deal was later expanded till March 2018, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.

The OPEC+ plans to discuss the issue of the further prolongation in November in Vienna.

Meanwhile, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the level of execution of the OPEC+ deal for 8 months of 2017 equaled to 99 percent.

The minister stressed that OPEC+ deal contributed to a decrease in volatility in the oil market, while oil prices are 30 percent higher than in the first half of the year. 

Novak further said that it is too early to talk about including Libya and Nigeria in the OPEC + agreement, but there is always the opportunity to take this decision.

Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, in turn, signaled a willingness to extend cuts into next year.

“OPEC members are trying to target a figure of close to $60 a barrel. We’re not too far away from that,” Kachikwu said in an interview with Bloomberg television. “If we get to March and find that there’s a need to do more, I think we will.”

Venezuelan Minister of Petroleum Eulochio del Pino, for his part, noted that it necessary to discuss the response to economic attacks by the U.S. and other countries in the framework of the meetings of the OPEC+.

He underlined that this meeting is very important for joint work on various issues with other countries.

U.S. President Donald Trump introduced new sanctions against Venezuela in August to put financial pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government, over its plan to rewrite the country’s constitution through a National Constituent Assembly, a new body elected in late June. The new legislature has not been recognized by the country's opposition, the EU or the U.S.

Moreover, the market eyes the referendum on the independence of Kurdistan, which is scheduled for September 25. The authorities of the region announced the possibility of additional benefits for foreign oil companies developing its fields.


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