The price of oil remained solid on Monday’s session after its immediate drop on last week’s trade. This is driven by projections that OPEC and other producers meeting will tackle about the heightened output from two members that are not part of the reductions.
International benchmark for oil Brent crude futures was almost steady at $48.06 a barrel for its September delivery, it finished down by 2.5 percent or $1.24 last Friday. This is after a rise in consultancy forecast in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) output for the month of July, regardless of the attempts of the organization to reduce production in an already bloated market. Meanwhile NYMEX crude lost more than 2 cents to finish at $45.75 per barrel.
The stabilization of the market has been unexpectedly stagnant, but OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said last Sunday that the movement of the energy sector will somehow speed up in the second half of 2017.
Six ministers from OPEC and non-members are scheduled to have a meeting on Monday to be held at St. Petersburg, Russia. This is to talk about the future of the oil market and agreement with output reductions. According to a credible source from the talks, they are widely forecasted to endorse a provisional cap on Libyan and Nigerian oil output. The committee would also tackle the possibilities on deepening the output cuts.
Essam al-Marzouq, oil minister from Kuwait said last Saturday that the agreement was good in terms of oil output reductions by OPEC.