On Monday afternoon, oil prices are slightly declining after a noticeable increase last week, while remaining in the area of two-week highs above $ 83 per barrel. The current Brent quote is $83.31 per barrel. Yesterday's high was marked at $84.26. WTI oil is trading near $79.50 after rising to $80.30 per barrel the day before. Over the past week, Brent oil prices increased by 3.4%, WTI – by 4.6%. Last weekend, several OPEC+ countries announced the extension of additional voluntary oil production cuts during collective negotiations. The restrictions, effective from January 1 and amounting to about 2 million barrels per day, will be maintained until the end of June. The alliance members stressed that these measures are aimed at maintaining the stability and balance of the global oil market, and excess volumes will be gradually restored. In general, the market expected a partial extension of restrictions for the second quarter, but the announced measures exceeded expectations. OPEC+ production was expected to quickly exceed 36 million barrels per day in May, but now the forecast shows that it will amount to 34.6 million barrels for the entire second quarter and increase to 36.3 million barrels in the second half of the year. The price dynamics were also influenced by data from Baker Hughes on the number of operating oil rigs in the United States last week: they showed an increase of three units to 506, while the number of gas rigs decreased by one, reaching 119.
