But by 1:30 p.m. EST (1830 GMT), Brent LCOc1 was up 73 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $33.83 a barrel, after trading as high as $35.84.
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He said that the topic of discussion at the planned OPEC meeting in February with representatives of other oil-producing countries could be the question of oil production reducing for each producer country at the level of five percent, but a general agreement is needed for it. It has also emerged that OPEC nations are trying to organize a meeting with non-member oil-exporting countries next month to discuss production cuts.
Another source told Reuters that the initiative to cut production came from Venezuela and Algeria, rather than the Saudi kingdom. WTI prices were $0.1 per barrel more than Brent crude oil prices in the last week.
In addition, OPEC decided not to lower its official production quota in its last three biannual meetings.
Anticipation that OPEC and non-OPEC producers could coordinate production cuts has been around all week, and a closing gain on Thursday would be the third in a row.
OPEC’s Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said Monday that the world’s major crude oil producers should have a meeting to create a solution about the falling oil prices and the glut of supply in the global market.
The ruble, which tracks oil prices closely, plunged to a record low earlier this month, and the economy contracted in 2015 for the first time since 2009 and may shrink again this year, according to economist forecasts.
United States crude oil prices, which recently fell below the $US30 threshold, climbed as high of $US34.82 a barrel.
Washington described Novak’s statement as showing Russia’s “economic weakness”, after the ex-Soviet country lost billions in oil revenues due to sinking prices. “Key will be if Russian Federation can deliver”, said Gary Ross, a veteran OPEC watcher and founder of U.S.-based Pira group.
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Earlier this week, the head of the Russian state-owned oil transportation monopoly Transneft Nikolay Tokarev said cutting production is one way to push up prices and Russia can do that, but it would have to happen in the summer. “Saying something about the oil price and doing something are very different things, and it seems like panic given the price drop”. Given that the USA has begun exporting oil exports and the increase in supplies from Iran after the lifting of sanctions, this struggle can only intensify.
