KUWAIT: The price of Kuwaiti oil went up by $2.18 to $37.52 per barrel (pb) on Monday, compared with $35.34 on Friday, the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said yesterday. Globally, the price of Brent crude on Monday closed up by $1.50 or 3.6 percent to $40.80 pb, while the West Texas Intermediate nosedived by $1.36 or 3.4 percent to $38.19 pb.

The OPEC daily basket price went up by $1.9 to reach $36.83 a barrel on Friday, compared with $34.84 on Thursday, said the organization on Monday. The annual average of the OPEC basket hit $52.43 per barrel in 2019, it added in a statement. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), Oriente (Ecuador), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).

OPEC+ nations had on Sunday expressed their commitment to the ongoing agreement to cut production in the pursuit of market stability, serving the common interests of the oil producing countries. This came amid teleconference talks attended by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers, co-chaired by the energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, and Russia, Alexander Novak, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The deal to reduce output, reached last May and includes June, will be extended until the end of July, they agreed, mentioning it is important to remain fully committed to efforts to achieve a balance in oil markets. Production will continue to be monitored at a meeting held on a monthly basis until December 2020, with the upcoming scheduled for June 18 and a ministerial OPEC+ slated for December 1 in Vienna. — KUNA