London — Oil prices rose more than 1% on Friday as oil cartel Opec struggled to agree on a deal to increase output to compensate for losses in production at a time of rising global demand. Benchmark Brent crude was up 75c a barrel at $73.80 by 8am GMT. US light crude was 60c higher at $66.14. Opec is meeting in Vienna, with non-Opec oil producers, to discuss output policy. On Friday, the cartel tried to overcome Iranian opposition to a preliminary agreement to boost production by a theoretical 1-million barrels per day (bpd) — although the actual increase would be smaller as several countries are unable to raise output. Following a night of drama in Vienna on Thursday, the joint ministerial monitoring committee, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, recommended a supply boost despite Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the Iranian oil minister, walking out of the meeting and predicting Opec would not convince him to back an increase. He met his Saudi counterpart for private talks on Friday mor...
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