Oil prices jumped Monday (July 1st) after OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia and non-member Russia agreed to keep daily oil output caps, AFP reported.
OPEC and its allies are set this week to prolong oil output cuts to further boost prices, after the two biggest players Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to do so.
Ministers from the 14-nation Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet in Vienna on Monday to discuss output, before gathering a day later for OPEC-plus, a group of 24 oil-producing countries that includes Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia agreed Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka to extend their deal which aims to keep oil output low owing to abundant world supplies.
OPEC and its oil-producer allies decided in December to trim daily crude output by 1.2 million barrels.
The reduction contributed to oil prices soaring by almost one-third in the first quarter of 2019, boosting revenues for OPEC and non-OPEC members alike.
The cartel meanwhile remains on red alert over escalating US-Iran tensions that have fueled recent strong oil-price gains -- but OPEC and other producers are unlikely to end output cutbacks just yet.
