Investing.com – Crude futures settled higher on Monday amid growing expectations that OPEC members will agree to extend production cuts, after Iraq supported Saudi Arabia’s view that cuts needed to be extended for a prolonged period until March 2018.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for June delivery gained 40 cents to settle at $50.73 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 28 cents to trade at $53.89 a barrel.
Oil prices jumped to highs on Monday, as expectations soared for an extension of the supply-cut agreement, after Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi said on Monday he agreed with Saudi Arabia on the need to extend OPEC crude output cuts for a further nine months.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih quelled any lingering fears that OPEC members would not reach an agreement on an output cut extension on Thursday, after he said that he did not expect any resistance within OPEC to extending oil output cuts until March 2018.
Oil prices have surged over recent sessions, on the back of hopes that OPEC would agree to extend the current output cut for a period of nine months, which is beyond the six-month option included in the initial production-cut deal agreed in November.
In November last year, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd). The deal to cut supply started in January this year until June, and includes an option to extend the production cut for a period of six months.
Despite, high compliance by OPEC members with the deal to rein in global supply, non-OPEC members, who were not part of the deal have increased output, which has dampened OPEC efforts to reduce supply to the five-year average.
"There has been a marked reduction to the inventories, but we're not where we want to be in reaching the five-year average," Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said last week.
OPEC is expected to decide at talks on Thursday, whether to extend the current deal to cut production.