ISLAMABAD: Oil prices edged lower on Thursday amid fears of global economic slowdown despite production and export cuts announced earlier this week by Saudi Arabia and Russia. As of 1345 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world\u2019s oil, shed $0.30 (-0.39 percent) to reach $76.35 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went down by $0.21 (-0.29 percent) to $71.58 a barrel. However, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $0.72 (+1.08 percent) to $67.41. Arab Light prices witnessed an increase of $0.78 (+0.99 percent) to reach $79.26 a barrel. Following suit, the price for Opec Basket increased by $1.84 (+2.48 percent) to $76.18. 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. TLTP
\nThe market is expecting interest rate hikes in the US and Europe to tame stubbornly high inflation while fears of a global recession have been heightened by recent surveys showing that factory and services activity in China and Europe has slowed.
\nEarlier this week, Russia announced it would further reduce its supply of oil. \u201cAs part of the efforts to ensure a balanced market, Russia will voluntarily reduce its oil supply in August by 500,000 barrels per day by cutting its exports to global markets by that quantity,\u201d Russia\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister and top OPEC negotiator Alexander Novak said earlier this week.
\nThe latest oil production and export cuts announced earlier this week by the OPEC+ leaders \u2013 Saudi Arabia and Russia \u2013should be sufficient to bring the oil market back to balance, Suhail Al Mazrouei, the energy minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said on Wednesday. \u201cThis is enough to assess the market and look at the market balance,\u201d Al Mazrouei told reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD: Oil prices edged lower on Thursday amid fears of global economic slowdown despite production and export cuts announced earlier this week by Saudi Arabia and Russia. As of 1345 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world\u2019s oil, shed $0.30 (-0.39 percent) to reach $76.35 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-341824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n