Hope was rekindled yesterday after crude oil price rose 40 cents to $33.12 per barrel, paring earlier losses, after fresh comments from Russia about its openness to talk with OPEC over output cuts.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said if there is consensus among the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members to meet, “then we will meet”.
This helped push the price of oil, which had been set for a third day of declines after data on Tuesday showed another big build in U.S. inventories, off the day’s lows.
Brent for April delivery rose 40 cents to $33.12 a barrel, pulling away from a session low of $32.30.
U.S. crude futures rose 46 cents to $30.34, off a session low of $29.40.
“Is there going to be a meeting between Russia and OPEC? That is a supportive factor in this rally that we’ve seen in the last one hour,” PVM Oil Associates analyst, Tamas Varga said.
Oil is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and the West African country is reeling from huge revenue loss following the crash of crude oil price.
Late last month, oil price rose further above $30 a barrel on hopes that OPEC and non-OPEC producers may reach deal to tackle one of the biggest supply gluts in decades.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has been making renewed calls for rival producers to cut supply alongside its members. Russia, seen as key to any deal, as at that time, refused to cooperate.
Iraq’s oil minister had said he saw some flexibility for a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC. Brent crude rose 17 cents to 30.67 dollars a barrel. U.S. crude was up seven cents at 30.41 dollars.
“Without a production agreement, fundamentals point to lower numbers,” said David Hufton of oil brokers PVM. “With one, oil becomes a 40-to-60 dollars-a-barrel market”.