The price of a barrel of oil nudged upwards yesterday in the wake of moves by members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) signalling moderate cuts in output.
Reuters news agency reported Opec said it would cut output from its current level of 33.24 million barrels per day (bpd) to a range between 32.5 million and 33 million bpd.
The agreement is the first such cut in production since 2008.
The price of Brent crude subsequently hovered around the $49 (￡38) mark. It has been as low as $30 (￡23), at the beginning of this year, after reaching highs of around $110 (￡85) in the middle of 2014.
The Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, said Opec had made “an exceptional decision”, with the move re-establishing Opec production ceilings which had been abandoned a year ago, Reuters said.
The news agency said oil prices were currently well below the budget needs of most Opec countries, but Middle East politics had complicated matters, not least the tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
