Oil rises with OPEC-Plus in focus

Oil prices as the US market opened on Monday, extending gains for the fifth straight day, near a 3-year high, ahead of the conclusion of the OPEC-Plus meeting, which has been postponed several times due to tensions about a plan to hike production by million barrels from August until the end of 2021, with stretching the cuts from April 2022 until the end the year.

US crude rose 0.6% to $75.52a barrel, after opening at $75.10, and hit a low at $74.78, and Brent crude rose 0.4% to $76.52 a barrel, after opening at $76.24, and hit a low at $75.72.

The US crude gained 0.2% on Friday, and Brent crude rose 0.7%, in the fourth straight daily gain.

Oil prices rose 0.75% last week, the sixth straight weekly gain, thanks to the global demand recovery.

OPEC-Plus voted on Friday after postponing the meeting for 24 hours to increase output by 2 million barrels per day from August to December, and to extend the entire cuts until the end of 2022, but the UAE objected, which led to postponing the meeting again.

Public disagreement is rare between OPEC members, but the increasing divergence of national interests will likely affect the production policy of the alliance, and may eventually lead to its collapse.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman sought on Sunday to resolve differences and reach a final agreement with the UAE.

Sources said that the UAE has reservations about the group’s agreement to cut production after April 2022, unless it’s allowed to have a higher baseline for its own cuts, as the country wants to speed up its oil production.