Oil edges higher after Opec report confirms Saudi production cut

Singapore — Oil prices rose on Tuesday after a report from Opec confirmed that top exporter Saudi Arabia had cut production to avert looming oversupply.

Front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $72.87 a barrel at 1.11am GMT, up 26c, or 0.4%, from their last close.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 32c, or 0.5%, at $67.52 a barrel.

In July, Saudi Arabia told producer group Opec that it had cut production by 200,000 barrels a day to 10.288-million barrels a day.

Opec’s monthly report published on Monday, which uses data from secondary sources, confirmed the Saudi cut, which traders said triggered crude’s upward move early on Tuesday.

That came despite the Saudi move coming in anticipation of a slowdown in oil demand.

The Opec report said it expected world oil demand to grow by 1.43-million barrels a day in 2019, down from 1.64-million barrels a day in 2018.

Opec said the demand slowdown would come on the back of potentially lower economic growth as a result of trade disputes between the US and China as well as emerging market turmoil.

Despite this, Opec said overall oil demand would likely remain healthy.

Reuters