Brought by investors’ expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries along with Russia would extend its production cut deal, prices of oil held steady on Thursday. In accordance to this, according to Russian President: Vladimir Putin, the OPEC deal which was set to expire in March 2018 could be extended until the end of 2018.
In addition, Eurasia Group, the world’s largest political consultancy said that Putin and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will reach, but not announce an agreement to extend the OPEC and non-OPEC output pledge, nonetheless with a commitment to narrow the cuts.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, was up by 0.16% or 9 cents and traded at $55.89 a barrel. On the other hand, the United States West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down by 1 cent and traded at $49.97.
Meanwhile, the EIA or the Energy Information Administration announced on Wednesday that United States crude oil exports leaped to 1.98 million barrels per day last week, beating the 1.5 million barrels per day record which was experienced last week. In accordance to this, the increase was brought by the wide discount in the United States West Texas Intermediate prices against Brent, which makes oil exports in the United States attractive.