Oil price rise above US$61

Prices of Brent Crude is currently trading at US$61.94 as at 11.59 am this morning on oilprice.com higher than its closing price  of US$58.94 on  Friday November 30.

The rise in price is coming ahead of OPEC’s meeting on December 6 during which they may decide to cut oil production  to help stabilize prices which has plunged since October from a high of US$81 per barrel, the steepest fall in since 2014.

Ahead of the meeting, Qatar announced this morning that it is withdrawing from OPEC to concentrate on gas production. It is not yet clear how much impact OPEC Qatar’s withdrawal will have on any decision to cut production. Nigeria, which is undecided on whether it will push for a production cut, needs higher oil prices to help plug an almost 40% shortfall in revenues which has hit its 2018 budget projection.

Details later…