NEW YORK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices moved noticeably higher on Wednesday after a report that major producers could vote to continue their current output cuts for another month.
The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery added 1.53 U.S. dollars to settle at 61.28 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery increased 1.37 dollars to close at 64.07 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The rally came after a Reuters report said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, widely known as OPEC+, are considering rolling over production cuts into April instead of raising output as a recovery in oil demand remains fragile due to the coronavirus crisis, citing three OPEC+ sources.
OPEC+ will meet on Thursday and traders had been expecting the group to ease their cuts.
"The oil market is waiting with bated breath to hear what decisions are taken by OPEC and its allies (OPEC+) at their (virtual) meeting tomorrow," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Wednesday.
"The consensus is that production will be gradually increased by 500,000 barrels per day, and that Saudi Arabia's voluntary additional cut will be withdrawn, meaning that production should rise by something like 1.5 million barrels per day from April," he said. Enditem
