- Crude oil surges to one-month highs after Russian Energy Minister Novak said his country is consulting with Saudi Arabia and other producers to achieve oil market stability, following last week's comments from Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih expressing his willingness to participate in an OPEC informal meeting late next month to discuss ways to stabilize the market.
- U.S. crude oil jumped 2.8% to settle at $45.74/bbl, the highest settlement since July 15, and Brent crude gained 2.9% to $48.35/bbl, the highest finish since July 12, with each benchmark rising by more than 10% in the past three sessions.
- “Saudi Arabia wants to make amends for their Doha disaster and so they are trying to rebuild their diplomatic credibility," says Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
- But Anas Alhajji, an independent energy expert and former chief economist at NGP Energy Capital Management, says only the Saudis matter, as it "alone can stabilize the market by end of the year by cutting production back [to 10M bbl/day] immediately and [keeping] it at that level."
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