Oil prices rose sharply during US trading on Wednesday, continuing the strong growth after Iran's oil minister said he was willing to support measures to stabilize the situation in the oil market.
Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh met with his counterparts from Venezuela, Iraq and Qatar in Tehran, and for nearly three hours they tried to reach an agreement to limit the production and retention of oil prices.
At the end of the meeting Zanganeh said that "supports the efforts of OPEC to stabilize prices."
Major oil producers - Russia and Saudi Arabia - on Tuesday agreed to freeze production of crude oil in January's levels; they were joined by other oil exporters, but they have not agreed on a reduction of oil production.
On London's ICE Futures Exchange, Brent crude oil for April delivery jumped $ 1.94, or 6.03%, to trade at $ 34.12 a barrel.
On Tuesday, Brent futures were down $ 1.21, or 3.62%, after the meeting of energy ministers of Saudi Arabia, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela ended with the decision to freeze production. Nevertheless, the success of the transaction is also dependent on other major producers, while investors were hoping for coordinated actions to reduce production.
In 2016, the price of Brent crude fell by nearly 15%, as investors worried that a record surplus of oil coincides with the global economic downturn.
Since the summer of 2014, oil futures fell in price by almost 70%, as oil supply outstripped demand due to the boom of shale oil in the United States and after the adoption last year of OPEC's decision not to cut production in order to protect their market share.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange WTI crude oil for March delivery increased by $ 1.58, or 5.44%, and was traded at $ 30.63 a barrel. A day earlier, on the Nymex, oil futures lost 40 cents, or 1.36%.
Later today, the American Petroleum Institute will release its inventories report, while on Thursday it will publish a government report that may show growth in stocks by 3.9 million barrels for the week ended February 12.
This year, US oil prices have lost almost 24%. Last Thursday, the price of WTI futures fell to $ 26.05, the lowest level since 2003, as the record stocks in Cushing intensified concerns about oversupply in the world.
Meanwhile, today the spread between Brent and WTI oil grades is $ 3.49 per barrel compared with $ 3.14 at the close of trading on Tuesday.