Daily Times

Global prices for crude oil surged for the third straight day on Thursday as as reports started to emerge that OPEC and its non-OPEC partners led by Russia are discussing another gradual increase in oil supply of two million barrels per day (bpd) between August and December. At 14:05 GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained 2.48 percent to reach $76.47 a barrel. Similarly, the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) reached $75.89, up 3.29 percent. The price for Opec Basket was recorded at $73.34 a barrel with 0.68 percent decrease, Arab Light was available at $73.85 a barrel with 1.07 percent decrease, while the price of Russian Sokol reached $73.94 after shedding 0.88 percent. The first OPEC meeting ended with no discussion of an output increase, but all eyes are now on the JMMC (Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee of OPEC) meeting. The alliance is preparing to move toward easing the production cuts by 2 million bpd from next month until the end of the year, adding around 400,000 bpd of supply to the market each month between August and December. This would be lower than analyst forecasts of at least 500,000 bpd output hike for August alone.