West Texas Intermediate futures were down 0.8 percent from Friday’s closing price following the U.S. Memorial Day holiday on Monday. OPEC and Russia’s deal to extend output limits through March was initially met with a sell-off as deeper cuts or a plan for the rest of 2018 weren’t proposed. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said the strategy is working and stockpiles will drop faster in the third quarter.

Brent crude futures were trading down 19 cents at $51.96 per barrel at 0857 GMT. The contract ended the previous week down nearly 3 percent. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were also down 19 cents at $49.61 per barrel.

OPEC members and a Russia-led group of 11 non-OPEC countries on May 25th agreed to prolong production cuts for a further period of nine months, beginning from the 1st of July, in a bid to stabilise oil prices and reduce oil inventories. The recent deal was an extension of the previous agreement that was reached between the two sides last December, taking effect from 1st of January this year, to reduce production by 1.8mn barrels per day (bpd) – since when oil prices have remained relatively stable at around the $50/barrel mark.

Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies meet in Vienna to decide whether to prolong their agreement. Major producers including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq favor an extension for nine months and, while other options will be discussed, consensus is building around an agreement that runs through next March.

The July light, sweet crude contract on NYMEX climbed 34¢ on May 23 to close at $51.47/bbl. The August contract rose 32¢ to settle at $51.72/bbl. The natural gas price for June fell 11¢ to a rounded $3.22/MMbtu. The Henry Hub cash gas price was $3.20/MMbtu, down 1¢. The Brent crude contract for July on London’s ICE gained 28¢ to $54.15/bbl. The August contract was up 30¢ to $54.41/bbl. The June gas oil contract held unchanged at $479/tonne. OPEC’s basket of crudes on May 23 settled at $51.34/bbl, down 20¢.

«Принято решение рекомендовать Конференции министров стран ОПЕК и не входящих в ОПЕК государств, которая соберется 25 мая в Вене, продлить срок действия договоренностей о корректировке объемов нефтедобычи на девять месяцев с 1 июля 2017 года», - сообщил Александр Новак.

As a major buyer of OPEC crude, India is hoping to leverage its ties with the oil producer bloc to gain "preferential treatment," the country's petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan told.

Brent crude LCOc1 ended a run of four days of consecutive gains to trade 36 cents lower at $53.51 per barrel at 0831 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was down 33 cents at $50.80.

“India is very price sensitive. I need to ask how do I serve my citizens best. We are free to import oil from any part of the world . . . from the US and Canada, as well as more supplies from Russia.”

Brent crude gained 48 cents o $54.09 a barrel by 1043 GMT (6:43 a.m. ET), with U.S. light crude up 47 cents at $50.80.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 28 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $52.79 at 0630 GMT. The contract earlier rose to the highest since April 21 and is on track for a nearly 4 percent climb this week, its second week of gains. U.S. crude oil CLc1 was up 29 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $49.64 a barrel, highest since April 26. The contract is also heading for a weekly increase of almost 4 percent.

Brent crude was up 50 cents at $52.15 per barrel by 1330 GMT. U.S. light crude rose 39 cents to $49.05.

Brent crude was down 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, from the last close at $51.45 per barrel at 0647 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was at $48.39, down 27 cents, or 0.6 percent.

Brent crude oil was up 30 cents at $52.12 a barrel by 0750 GMT. U.S. light crude was 25 cents higher at $49.10 a barrel. Both benchmarks have risen more than $5 a barrel since hitting five-month lows 10 days ago.

Средняя цена на нефть Urals за период мониторинга с 15 апреля по 14 мая 2017 года составила $48,20889 за баррель, или $351,9 за тонну.