Brent Crude Oil Rises Above $41 Ahead of OPEC Plus Meeting on Saturday

• Brent Crude Oil Rises Above $41 Ahead of OPEC Plus Meeting on Saturday

Brent Crude oil, against which Nigerian crude oil is priced, rose by 6.2 percent or $2.46 to $43.45 per barrel on Thursday before pulling back to $41 on Friday during the Asian trading session.

Since crashing to $15.98 a barrel on April 22, Brent has more than double its price and gained 16 percent in the last one week. Thanks to Trump for mediating between OPEC and Russia.

On Friday, the CNBC quoted Russia’s energy ministry as saying a virtual meeting of OPEC and allies, known as OPEC plus, would be held on Saturday.

“Prices are up with the meeting scheduled for tomorrow. There was lots of confusion… so it looks like they found a way forward,” Olivier Jakob at Petromatrix consultancy said.

While Saudi Arabia and Russia want the April accord of 9.7 million barrels per day extended into July, they have warned that other top producers like Nigeria and Iraq must play their part. This was after the May report shows Nigeria and Iraq compliance levels were 19 percent and 38 percent, respectively.

“The growing fear is that not only will a deal to extend the deep cuts not be reached, but (some) producers may even relax their current over-compliance. This would ultimately see output rise in coming weeks,” ANZ Research said in a note.