SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices rose on Monday with investors and traders awaiting crucial talks by OPEC+ following disagreement over output within the group.
Brent crude was up 17 cents at $76.36 a barrel by 0731 GMT, after falling 1 cent last week.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained 13 cents, trading at $75.29 per barrel, having risen 1.5% last week.
OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, voted on Friday to increase production by about 2 million barrels a day from August to December 2021 and to extend the remaining output cuts to the end of 2022.
But objections from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) prevented an agreement.
“Failing to come to a deal may provide some brief upside to the market,” ING Economics told Reuters.
“However, realistically it could also signal the beginning of the end for the broader deal, and so the risk that members start to increase output,” ING said.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister sought on Sunday to push back against UAE’s opposition to a proposed OPEC+ deal, calling for “compromise and rationality” to get unanimity when the group meets again on Monday.
“You have to balance addressing the current market situation with maintaining the ability to react to future developments … if everyone wants to raise production then there has to be an extension,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television channel.
