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A crunch videoconference meeting between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia started on Thursday evening.
The meeting could pave the way for a global production deal to combat the rapid collapse in demand from the coronavirus pandemic.
Oil prices rose on Thursday ahead of the meeting. Brent crude was 4.5 per cent higher at $34.36 a barrel by lunchtime in London, while West Texas Intermediate gained 7.6 per cent to just shy of $27 a barrel. But both benchmarks have lost half their value since the start of the year as the market wrestles with cratering demand and record oversupply amid a price war, reported Financial Times.
Donald Trump, the US president, has put pressure on Russia and Opec’s largest member Saudi Arabia to forge a pact to cut 10-15m barrels a day of output. Both Riyadh and Moscow have insisted other countries, including the US, participate.
Russian officials have pushed back against what they see as the US and other countries like Canada dressing up natural production declines as mandated cuts, even as Moscow indicated it would be willing to reduce its own output by up to 15 per cent. The deal could hinge on every side accepting the others’ definition of what constitutes a supply cut.
