MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, OPEC member states reached a preliminary deal to set the output ceiling at 32.5-33 million barrels a day for the whole cartel. The date of the oil output freeze is expected to be presented at the cartel's upcoming meeting in November.
WTI crude prices also increased to a multi-month high from less than $48 per barrel to over $48.80 per barrel before falling to around $48.30 later in the day.
Global oversupply and stagnating demand have caused oil prices to plunge from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to less than $30 per barrel in January 2016. Prices recovered in May, reaching a peak of over $50 per barrel in early June, but fell again and fluctuated between $40 and $50 per barrel.
In April, major oil-producing states failed to reach an output-freezing agreement in Doha, Qatar. Saudi Arabia, which had previously said that it would freeze output only if Iran followed suit, cited Iran’s absence from the talks as the reason for not supporting an output freeze.
