Yemisi Izuora/Agency Report
Preparations are in top gear as OPEC members review strategies in preparation for a crucial talk as they reconvene in Doha in the next few weeks.
Top on the agenda will be oil price which has defied measures to regain stability in the international market.
Brent crude went up 25 cents on Monday, $40.69 per barrel.
Earlier in the week it was 76 cents lower for the first time in five weeks. US crude went up 34 cents at $39.80 a barrel.
Disruptions to oil supply have been caused by political conflict in Nigeria and Iraq as well as the failure of OPEC members to agree on the proposed oil freeze.
OPEC and non-OPEC members will meet on April 17th to discuss plans in Doha. Ten countries have already decided to attend apart from Lybia.
“There is going to be pressure on the participants in the meeting to ensure they achieve something. Otherwise they risk the support-market sentiment that we are seeing now dissipate rapidly,” said Victor Shum, senior oil and gas analyst at IHS in Singapore.
U.S. crude production went down for the third consecutive month in December to 9.26 million barrels per day in the largest producing states and on the contrary, oil production offshore rose according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) which also said in April, they were expecting a further decline.
The decline would be the second largest monthly downturn at 106,000 barrels per day.
China’s refined fuel stocks at the end of February were up 17.3 percent from the previous month to their highest level in four years, while commercial crude oil stocks were up 1.1 percent.