Oil prices are up sharply again Monday on news that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is finally willing to hold talks on cutting global oil supplies.
As of about 1:19 pm EDT, October futures for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude are trading at $47.76 US per barrel, up $2.54 on the day and roughly $10 a barrel above last week’s six-year lows.
The abrupt turnaround in oil prices has prompted a rally among beleaguered energy stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, pushing the S&P/TSX Capped Energy Index up 1.5 per cent so far today.
Most other sectors are in the red, however, driving Toronto’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index to a decline of about 69 points at mid-day, to 13,796.
In its monthly OPEC Bulletin, the oil cartel, which produces roughly 40 per cent of the world’s crude, said it is now willing to talk to other producers about addressing the glut of global supplies, “but this has to be on a level playing field” with non-OPEC producers also involved, it pointedly noted.
Monday’s jump in crude prices has also been fuelled by new estimates from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which cut its U.S. output estimates for the first five months of 2015 by up to 130,000 barrels per day.