KUWAIT: Kuwait crude oil edged 36 cents higher during Wednesday's trading sessions to reach $76.03 per barrel (pb) compared with $75.67 pb the day before, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said yesterday. Brent crude, however, dropped $1.73 to $74.76 pb and West Texas Intermediate plunged $2.12 to $73.13 pb.

The OPEC basket of crudes went up 16 cents during trading sessions to close at $75.29 per barrel (pb) on Wednesday, compared with $75.13 on Tuesday, said the organization yesterday. The annual price of the OPEC basket in 2020 was at $41.47 pb, OPEC Secretariat noted. OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) increased by 5.8 percent to hit $76.63 last May, which is the higher level reached since May 2019, while the price averaged $39.65 during the first five months of 2020, OPEC said in its latest report.

The OPEC+ group of oil producers reaffirmed commitment, during a meeting in June, to a stable oil market that serves both the producers' and consumer's interest equally. OPEC+ ministers stressed importance of the continuous positive contributions of the Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) in supporting the oil market's rebalance, which comes in accordance with the decisions taken by OPEC+.

The ministerial meeting monitored the continuous improvement of the market's fundamentals, as the demand on oil showed clear signs of development and a drop in the Economic Cooperation Organization's (ECO) stock along with an economic recovery in most parts of the world, driven by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations. In its latest forecast, OPEC expected demand for its crude to be at 27.3 million barrels per day (bpd) this year with the raise of five million bpd in comparison to 2020. - KUNA