Brent oil price hit over $53 a barrel as investors expect further cuts after world’s largest oil producers resumed a meeting to decide on production quota for February.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $53.15 per barrel at 0504 GMT, and compared to Monday, marked an increase of 4.03% after closing Monday at $51.09 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $49.85 per barrel at the same time for a 04.68% increase after it ended the previous session at $47.62 a barrel.
The price of Brent oil gained more than 4% as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, known as OPEC+, resumed talks on the production quota in February.
Initially met on Monday, the group had postponed the meeting one day due to friction between OPEC members over output rate cuts as some oil producing countries like Russia and Kazakhstan are in favor of higher output levels while others including Iraq, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates suggested holding output steady.
However, the positive expectations that the production level in January, which is 7.2 million barrels per day, will be kept as the same instead of adding up to 500,000 barrels exerted upward pressure on oil prices.
In a meeting in December, the group had agreed to add 500,000 barrels per day in January and, through monthly meetings, decide on the next month's production quota that will not be more than 500,000 barrels per day.
Meanwhile, ongoing friction between Iran and South Korea also contributed to the uptick in the Brent oil prices.
Tensions between Tehran and Seoul have escalated after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) seized a South Korean-flagged oil tanker in the Persian Gulf on Monday for alleged violations of maritime environmental laws.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
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