Oil price rallied near $35 per barrel late on Friday, as prospects brightened for Monday meeting scheduled between Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and ally members.
Brent crude jumped 8.25 percent to $33.7 per barrel on Friday, while US West Texas Intermediate gained 0.43 percent to $26.47 per barrel.
The meeting which will be aimed at stabilising oil prices, after United States President Donald Trump said in a Twitter post on Thursday that he had brokered a deal between top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil output by about 10 million barrels per day or more.
Azerbaijan’s energy ministry said on Friday that a meeting of the OPEC group of oil producers is planned for April 6 and will be held as a video conference, the RIA news agency reported.
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The ministry said that all OPEC countries were expected to take part and that stabilising prices on oil markets would be discussed.
Although the final list of invitees has not yet been set, however, sources expect United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico to be among the major attendees of the OPEC-ally members movement led by Russia.
“That’s the most important thing on the supply side; they need to reduce the supply because the demand side is falling. Otherwise, the gap between supply and demand is so big,” Ang Kok Heng, chief investment officer at Phillip Capital Management, said in a note.
“Even if China wants to buy more oil to build its reserves, they would need to store and oil storage is full,” Ang said. He sees Russia being the obstacle to a potential ceasefire as Saudi appeared ready to reduce production.
“They should come to an agreement, hopefully. Everybody is affected,” he said.
Plans for the surprise meeting renewed optimism that a truce may be in the offing after an intense price war between the Saudi-led group and Russia sent crude prices tumbling last month, hurting all exporters already reeling from an imminent sharp drop in demand as the global economy is set to shrink this year.
