Oil price jumped on Monday, February 15, triggering last week’s speculation that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries might agree to slash production to reduce a supply glut that has pushed prices to the lowest in over a decade.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the global benchmark, were up 21 cents at $33.57 a barrel at 1428 GMT.
U.S. futures CLc1 traded at $29.68 a barrel, up 24 cents on Friday’s close. Trade is likely to be thinner than usual on Monday due to the U.S. Presidents Day holiday.
“Some traders still think about the chances of an OPEC plus Russia (production) cut and close their short positions,” said Frank Klumpp, oil analyst at Stuttgart-based Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Non-OPEC member Russia said on Monday it was in talks on coordinated output cuts with individual OPEC members, mainly Venezuela, but not with the organisation itself, news agency Interfax quoted Russia’s representative to OPEC as saying.
