Oil prices rose after Opec+ doubled down on compliance amongst group members at its joint ministerial meeting, where Iraq, a longstanding laggard submitted plans to make compensatory cuts.
Brent, the most widely traded crude commodity benchmark, rose 1.71 per cent to trade at $41.42 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate, the key US gauge, was up 2.11 per cent at $38.76 per barrel at 9.01pm UAE time.
The joint ministerial monitoring committee meeting, which took place virtually, did not make further recommendations on extending or deepening the current level of output cuts.
Opec+, the 23-member alliance headed by Saudi Arabia and Russia, agreed earlier this month to extend their historic 9.7 million barrels per day cut until the end of July.
The producers had agreed in April to implement cuts initially for a two-month period. Tapered cuts will be in place until April 2022.
Iraq, Opec’s second-largest producer as well as Nigeria, a key West African oil-producing member were singled out for habitually failing to comply.
At the last Opec+ meeting, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman urged laggards within the group to compensate for overproduction over the coming months.
Opec+ also deferred a press conference that was scheduled to take place after the end of the meeting to June 22 as it awaits plans by Nigeria and Kazakhstan to compensate for producing over their quotas.
The next official meeting of the JMMC is scheduled for July 15.
Opec said in its monthly forecast ahead of the meeting that global oil demand will shrink by 9.1m bpd to reach 90.06m bpd in 2020. The group expects a pick-up in demand in the second half of the year.
Demand fell by 6.4m bpd in the first quarter of the year, compared to the same period last year, while the second quarter saw 17.3m bpd of contraction.
