Benchmark crude prices are now close to $60 a barrel, up almost 20 percent since a year ago, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their non-OPEC partners agreed to reduce supply by a daily 1.8 million barrels to push up prices.
Even bitter rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran appeared on the same page going into Thursday’s meeting.
“My preference is to go for a 9-month extension,” Khalid Al-Falih of Saudi Arabia told reporters, while Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, his Iranian counterpart, said the meeting will “reach agreement about rolling over” the supply cuts.
