Oil prices rise after Russia and Saudi Arabia signal further output cuts

Oil prices rose in Asia on Friday after Russia and Saudi Arabia signaled additional output cuts in a joint statement.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman both expressed willingness to further cut down oil production, adding to a previous record 10-million-barrel cut by OPEC+ in April.  The two major producers stated that they will “closely monitor the oil market” and will implement measures accordingly with OPEC+ along with other producers.

International Brent Oil Futures climbed 2.12% to $28.41 per barrel by 10:20PM ET (3:20 GMT) while U.S. Crude Oil WTI futures gained 0.35% to $19.94 per barrel.

While several countries have pledged to purchase as much as 23 million barrels for strategic stockpiles, Commerzbank analysts told CNBC that the purchases may “only be enough to cope with one weekly increase in stocks”.

Skeptical investors expressed doubt that the output cuts would curb oversupply until OPEC+ provided more details on how non-OPEC countries would contribute to decreasing production.