Oil halts rally as OPEC ministers gather

Oil price has halted its rally after a four-day gain before OPEC ministers meet on Thursday to decide on prolonging output cuts by the cartel and other producers.

The international benchmark crude Brent is trading at $53.40 Tuesday morning having lost some ground after rising above the $54 mark yesterday.

Virtually all OPEC members including Iraq now back a proposal from Saudi Arabia and Russia to extend output cuts for nine months.

Iraq’s support for the output cut remove one of the last remaining obstacles to an agreement at the OPEC meeting in Vienna this week.

Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, which only reluctantly agreed last year to cut output, had previously favored prolonging the historic deal by just six months.

Saudi Minister of Energy and Industry, Khalid Al-Falih, secured the backing after talks in Baghdad with his Iraqi counterpart Jabbar Al-Luaibi. Non-OPEC nations Oman and Mexico also confirmed their support for a nine-month extension.

Statoil CEO sees oil-market balancing in 2H if OPEC cuts renewed. Extension of output cuts “more probable than not,” Statoil CEO Eldar Saetre says in interview in Stavanger, Norway.