Oil up as market awaits outcome of Russia's and Saudi Arabia's output cuts

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices increased in early trade on Tuesday as investors considered the effects of output cuts by top OPEC+ members Saudi Arabia and Russia, while lingering fears of a global economic downturn continued to weigh on prices.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $75.25 per barrel at 10.20 am local time (0720 GMT), a 0.80% gain from the closing price of $74.65 a barrel in the previous trading session on Monday.

The American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at the same time at $70.41 per barrel, up 0.88% from the previous session's close of $69.79 per barrel.

Last week, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Algeria announced their intention to tighten their oil supply curbs, causing a surge in oil prices amid concerns of muted global economic activity.

Saudi Arabia said it would extend its voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in July for another month into August, with the possibility of a later extension.

With the recent cut, Saudi Arabia’s production for the month of August will be approximately 9 million barrels per day.

Meanwhile, Russia said it would voluntarily reduce its oil supply by 500,000 barrels per day in August by cutting its exports to global markets by that amount "as part of the effort to ensure the oil market remains balanced."

This was in addition to the country’s cuts of 700,000 bpd from its February production level.

Algeria also said it would cut its output by an extra 20,000 barrels a day in August. This output cut will be in addition to the 48,000 barrels a day cut announced in April.