World oil prices are rising on Monday afternoon in the hope of maintaining a balance of supply and demand in the market, according to trading data. As of 13.51 Moscow time, the price of May futures for the North Sea oil mixture of Brent rose by 0.58% – up to 62.5 dollars per barrel, April futures for WTI – by 0.51%, to 59.56 dollars per barrel. Since the beginning of February, oil prices have risen by 13-14% amid a decline in OPEC + oil production. In January, some of the alliance countries agreed to cut production in February-March by a total of 1.425 million barrels of oil per day, of which 1 million comes from Saudi Arabia. In turn, hopes for economic recovery amid vaccinations support forecasts for oil demand. The next meeting of OPEC and OPEC + is scheduled for March 3-4. According to a RIA Novosti source in one of the alliance’s delegations on Monday, Saudi Arabia intends to insist on maintaining OPEC + oil production at the current level; the kingdom’s positions with Russia have not yet converged. “The OPEC + decision appears to be a serious risk event for the oil market. However, oil prices are expected to remain bullish,” said PVM broker Stephen Brennock, quoted by Bloomberg. Source: PRIME