Oil prices soar 1.5% as Saudi Arabia and Russia stick to supply cuts
Oil prices soared on Monday after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would continue their extra voluntary supply cuts until the end of the year. Brent crude futures rose $1.25, or 1.47%, to $86.14 a barrel by 1145 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.29, or 1.6%, at $81.80.
Both the oil benchmarks lost about 6% in the week to November 3. Saudi Arabia on Sunday said that it would continue with its additional voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in December to keep output around 9 million bpd. Russia also said that it would continue its additional voluntary cut of 300,000 bpd from its crude oil and petroleum product exports until the end of December.
On Friday, the US crude oil benchmark for December delivery fell $1.95 to $80.51 per barrel. Brent crude for January delivery fell $1.96 to $84.89 per barrel. Natural gas for December delivery rose 5 cents to $3.52 per 1,000 cubic feet.
The announcement by the oil importers on Sunday came after a fading Israel-Hamas war premium and concerns over weaker global demand pushed oil prices down by more than 6% last week. Saudi Aramco kept its December selling prices for two of five oil grades unchanged to Asian customers. However, the kingdom cut its prices for Europe.
At the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, crude oil surged but those gains have now been almost pared as the fighting has not disrupted supplies from the Middle East region. Stock and bond markets were flat in Europe after last week’s rally. US futures added about 0.2%.
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