KUWAIT: The price of Kuwait oil went down $1.03 to settle at $44.72 per barrel (pb) on Monday as against $45.75 pb last Friday, said Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) yesterday. Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said yesterday that its basket price stood at $46.25 a barrel Monday, compared with $47.05 the previous Friday. Meanwhile, the annual rate of the basket was recorded at $49.64 pb in 2015.

Last Thursday, OPEC ministers agreed to keep the production rate stable at 32 million barrel per day, without imposing any production limit on member countries.

The new OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).