(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Oil prices jumped more than 3% in early Asian trade on Monday,
as OPEC+ considers cutting output by more than 1 million barrels a
day for its biggest reduction since the pandemic, in a bid to
support the market, reports with reference to .
Brent crude futures rebounded $2.51, or 3%, to $87.65 a barrel
by 0206 GMT, after settling down 0.6% on Friday. U.S. West Texas
Intermediate crude was also up 3%, or $2.39, at $81.88 a barrel,
after the previous session's loss of 2.1%.
Oil prices have tumbled for four straight months since June, as
COVID-19 lockdowns in top energy consumer China hurt demand, while
rising interest rates and a surging U.S. dollar weighed on global
financial markets.
To support prices, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, is considering
an output cut of more than 1 million bpd ahead of Wednesday's
meeting, OPEC+ sources told Reuters.
If agreed, this will be the group's second consecutive monthly
cut after reducing output by 100,000 bpd last month.
However, OPEC+ missed its production targets by nearly 3 million
bpd in July, two sources from the producer group said, as sanctions
on some members and low investment by others stymied its ability to
raise output.
'Anything less than 500,000 barrels a day would be shrugged off
by the market. Therefore, we see a significant chance of a cut as
large as 1 million barrels a day,' ANZ analysts said in a note.
While prompt Brent prices could strengthen further in the
immediate short term, concerns over a global recession are likely
to limit the upside, consultancy FGE said.
'If OPEC+ does decide to cut output in the near term, the
resultant increase in OPEC+ spare capacity will likely put more
downward pressure on long-dated prices,' it said in a note on
Friday.
Also on Friday, China issued its biggest quota for exports of
oil products this year and topped up crude import quotas for
independent refiners.
State and private refiners can export as much as 15 million
tonnes of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and low-sulphur fuel oil,
adding much needed supplies into global markets to replace Russian
exports the European Union embargoed in February.
However, analysts and traders said some of China's exports were
likely to spill over into early 2023 as refiners will need time to
ramp up.
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