Today, on Monday, the prices of oil futures increased as a result of the anticipation that the OPEC+ group will further reduce supplies to boost prices. The prices have been decreasing for four weeks because the concerns over disruption to Middle East supplies due to the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas movement have diminished.
By 0012 GMT, the price of Brent crude futures increased by 11 cents, which is equivalent to 0.1 percent, and reached $80.72 per barrel. Likewise, US West Texas Intermediate crude rose eight cents and reached a record of $75.97 per barrel. The front-month December contract will expire later today, but the most active January futures contract rose by 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $76.17 a barrel.
On Friday, the two contracts experienced a 4% increase at settlement. This was in response to a Reuters report citing three sources in OPEC+ that the group is considering additional cuts in oil supplies. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, will discuss this matter during their meeting on November 26th.
