ISLAMABAD: Oil prices surged for the third straight session on Monday as market focus started shifting away from economic concerns to tightening oil supply in June. As of 1200 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, rose 2.47 percent to $77.16 from $75.30. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went up 2.82 percent to $73.35 from $71.34. TLTP
The price of Russian Sokol decreased 4.74 percent to $66.31 from $69.61. Similarly, Arab Light prices witnessed a decrease of 4.45 percent to reach $77.24 from $80.84 a barrel.
The price for Opec Basket took a massive dive from $80.03 to $73.75, showing a decrease of $6.28 (-7.85 percent). The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend, Girassol, Djeno, Zafiro, Rabi Light, Iran Heavy, Basra Light, Kuwait Export, Es Sider, Bonny Light, Arab Light, Murban and Merey.
OPEC+ has confirmed it will hold its June 4 policy meeting in person in Vienna. In October 2022, OPEC+ member states agreed on a reduction in output by 2 million barrels per day starting November, as well as extended the transaction until the end of 2023. On April 2, a number of OPEC+ nations announced a voluntary output reduction from May to the end of 2023. The decisions were confirmed following the meeting of the OPEC+ ministerial monitoring committee held on April 3.
The total volume of voluntary reduction will amount to 1.66 million barrels per day and will become an addition to agreements enforced in November 2022 on reduction in output by 2 million barrels per day within the framework of the OPEC+ deal.
Other reason for the recovery was strong job data from the US, which eased concerns of an immediate economic recession, causing a sell-off earlier in the week. Moreover, a weaker dollar and expectations of supply cuts at the upcoming OPEC+ meeting in June gave a boost to oil prices.
