By Adedapo Adesanya
The aggregate price of 13 crudes belonging to member states of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) rose 0.7 percent to $43.44 per barrel on Wednesday, compared of with $43.15 the previous day, according to latest OPEC Secretariat calculations.
The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Djeno (Congo), 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).
This increase can be attributed to the improved investor appetite as data showed that economies continue to rebound.
Germany’s industrial activity picked up pace in June, as did manufacturing activity in China. Strict lockdowns in prior months helped lower the number of daily infections, and some economies have largely reopened.
However, surging cases of the coronavirus in the largest producing country, the United States threatens to put all these behind with cases hit 12.2 million worldwide.
In other OPEC related news, member state the United Arab Emirates (UAE) plans to boost its oil exports in August, the first signal that OPEC and its allies are preparing to ease record oil output cuts next month.
The oil cartel ad its allies led by Russia, known as OPEC+, have been cutting oil output since May by a record 9.7 million barrels per day but as it stands after July, the cuts are due to taper to 7.7 million barrels per day until December.
Although this will be largely due to decision reached at next week’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) meeting set for Wednesday, July 15 to plan the way forward.
