Oil
prices rose during Monday’s trading after OPEC and its allies agreed on Sunday on
a historic agreement to cut oil production to stabilize prices.
As
of 07:44 GMT, Brent crude reached $31.82
a barrel, while the highest level recorded during the session was at $33.25.
West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures traded at $23.23 per barrel, while the highest level
recorded during the session was at 24.56.
The
rise in oil prices came after OPEC+ announced a reduction in oil production by
9.7 million barrels per day effective from May 1 until the end of June.
The
United States, Brazil and Canada are also contributing to the agreement, with
an additional reduction of 3.7 million barrels per day.
Producers
succeeded in reaching an agreement, the biggest in history, in an effort to
support crude prices amid oversupply and declining global demand.
The
OPEC+ alliance reached a preliminary agreement at the end of last week that
included a 10 million barrel-a-day production cut, but Mexico's opposition to participation
prevented the final agreement from being announced.
According
to the Saudi energy minister that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE have
volunteered larger-than-expected cuts to actually reach 12.5 million barrels
per day from current production levels.
Meanwhile,
the dollar index, which measures the performance of six major currencies
against the US dollar, slumped 0.24 percent at 99.25.
Despite
the oil production cut agreement, Asian stocks dropped on Monday in a tranquil
trading, where markets in Hong Kong and Australia were closed for Easter Monday.
The general sentiment
continued to be affected by the latest developments of the Covid-19, as more
than 1.8 million cases worldwide were confirmed while at least 112,241 deaths had
been registered, according to data collected by John Hopkins University.