WTI and Brent crude oil price floating on calm seas after a rough week
The oil price has remained stable this morning, coming off the back of a week of wild swings.
International benchmark Brent crude this morning is up by around two per cent at $33.08, however US West Texas Intermediate jumped by over over four per cent to $32.84, up from under $30 at the close of oil trading on Friday.
Last week Brent crude swung over 12 per cent between its highs and lows.
The uptick in price comes as Opec leader Saudi Arabia works to secure a deal with non-Opec producers to cap production at January levels.
Russia is so far the only non-Opec oil exporter to agree to the limit, provided others pledge to do the same.
Read more: The Gulf can cope with low oil prices, says IMF's Christine Lagarde
Opec members Kuwait, the UAE and Venezuela have agreed to the deal but Iraq and Iran could derail it by continuing to ramp up their output.
Analysts have largely pour scorn on the deal, suggesting it will be impossible to enforce and will do little to clear the supply glut that is keep prices low.
In the 1980’s, the last time that Saudi attempted to bring non-Opec producers into a production limit deal, it fell apart after countries failed to correctly report their numbers.
Saudi Arabia has refused to limit production for only Opec countries, arguing they have lost market share to expensive shale oil to the extent that they are no longer able to dictate global supply.