London — Oil prices rose on Wednesday, supported by growing confidence that oil cartel Opec and other big producers would agree to keep output restricted for the rest of 2017 and into the first quarter of next year. Benchmark Brent crude oil was up 25c a barrel at $54.40 by 9.40am GMT. US light crude oil was up 20c at $51.67. Both crude benchmarks have gained more than 10% from their May lows below $50 a barrel, rebounding on a consensus that Opec and other producers will maintain strict limits on oil production in an attempt to drain a global oversupply. Opec has promised to cut supplies by 1.8-million barrels per day (bpd) until June and is expected to prolong this cut to March 2018 on Thursday. "With oil stocks nowhere near Opec’s self-assigned objective of the recent five-year average level, an extension of cuts seems all but a forgone conclusion," said Harry Tchilinguirian, strategist at BNP Paribas. Sushant Gupta, research director at Wood Mackenzie, told Reuters Global Market...
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