The oil price has pushed back from its 18-year low last night after US and Russian presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to negotiate to stabilize energy markets.

The oil price has fallen sharply since Saudi Arabia launched a trade war with Russia and flooded huge commodity markets because of the refusal of Russian and OPEC to negotiate deeper production cuts. At the same time, demand has narrowed sharply due to the pandemic of the Covid-19 coronavirus, which has led to the blockade of economies around the world.

The price of Brent oil rose by 0.43 USD, or 1.9%, to 23.19 USD per barrel after closing yesterday at 22.76 USD per barrel – its lowest level since November 2002. Meanwhile, the US light WTI crude rose by 1.16 USD, or 5.8%, to 21.26 USD per barrel, after earlier the benchmark reached 20.09 USD, its lowest level since February 2002.

“Oil prices are recovering from the 18-year low amid hopes that the oversupply will end soon”, says Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.

With prices dropping 60% since the start of the year, the Texas regulator has renewed its call to curb yields due to increased supply.

Saudi Arabia, actually OPEC’s leader, plans to increase its oil exports to 10.6 million barrels per day since May, with lower domestic consumption, an official from the Saudi Ministry of Energy said.

At the same time, global refineries are shrinking due to a decline in fuel demand. European refineries cut output by at least 1.3 million barrels.