(London) Oil prices rose on Thursday, driven by the announcement that Russia will present to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies a plan to compensate for its overproduction of crude in April.
Around 7:15 a.m., the price of a barrel of Brent from the North Sea for delivery in July rose 0.65% to $82.43.
Its American equivalent, a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery the same month, increased by 0.70% to $78.11.
Oil prices are supported by statements from Russia, which “is committed to compensating for April’s overproduction compared to OPEC+ quotas,” note DNB analysts.
Russia “will soon present to the OPEC Secretariat its plan to compensate for the slight deviation from voluntary production targets,” the Russian Energy Ministry said Wednesday evening in a statement on its official Telegram account, consulted by the ‘AFP.
The ministry attributes this overproduction last month to “technical reasons”, while saying it is committed to the voluntary restrictions in force under the current agreement.
Earlier this month, Iraq and Kazakhstan announced additional cuts in their oil production to compensate for exceeding their quotas during the first three months of the year.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies in the OPEC+ agreement are due to meet on 1er June to discuss a possible extension of the production cuts decided in November.
As it stands, the reductions which concern around 2.2 million barrels per day are due to expire at the end of June.
Black gold also recovered after suffering from bearish data on American stocks, and the minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve (Fed).
The publication of the US central bank’s discussions initially renewed concerns about a continuation of high interest rates in the United States, “potentially limiting future growth in oil demand”, recalls Ole R. Hvalbye, analyst at Seb’s.