Oil hit its highest in more than three weeks on Monday, topping $52 a barrel after Saudi Arabia and Russia said that supply cuts need to last into 2018, a step towards extending an OPEC-led deal to support prices for longer than first agreed. Energy ministers from the two countries said on Monday that supply cuts should be prolonged for nine months, until March 2018. That is longer than the optional six-month extension specified in the deal. The ministers said they hoped other producers would join the cut, which would initially be on the same volume terms as before. "When the two biggest oil producers of the world reach a consensus on the extension of a supply cut, the market will listen," Tamas Varga, of oil broker PVM, said in a report.

Source: Egypt Independent May 15, 2017 14:37 UTC