Oil prices rise above budget 2016 benchmark by $4.29

Oil prices, Friday, rose above the bench mark for Nigeria’s 2016 budget by $4.29, as prives rose for the third straight days.

The latest price upward movement sees the price of Brent crude, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, rise to $42.29 dollars.

The 2016 budget’s proposed benchmark is $38.

According to a report by the AFP, there is a growing confidence that the world’s biggest crude producers will reach a deal to curb output, as investors piled back into the commodity after it traded at 13-year lows last month.

The latest price increase is coming after Qatar’s energy minister, Mohammed al-Sada, confirmed that exporters from within and outside the OPEC cartel will meet on April 17 in Doha, stoking hopes of an agreement to ease a global supply glut.

Read also: Economy: FG negotiates 30% increase in oil swap deals

The United States benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in April was up 72 cents at $40.92 a barrel on Friday while Brent North Sea crude for May delivery won 75 cents to $42.29 a barrel compared with Thursday’s close.

The recent increased activities has been fueled by the Federal Reserve, which on Wednesday halved its forecast for US interest rate hikes this year.

“The expectation that the leading OPEC oil producing countries and Russia will agree on binding production caps on 17 April is lending prices additional buoyancy,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

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