Oil prices rally more than four per cent as Opec deal optimism and weaker dollar buoy the market
Oil prices rallied to their highest levels in three weeks today as a weaker dollar and hopes that Opec will seal an output deal next Wednesday boosted the market.
Global benchmark Brent crude was edging closer to $50, trading up 4.7 per cent, or $2.20, to $49.06 yesterday evening. US sweet crude was up 4.6 per cent, or $2.11, to $47.80.
Brent crude has risen 11 per cent in a week since Saudi Arabia stepped up a diplomatic charm offensive to secure a production cap of 32.5m to 33m barrels per day when the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meets in Vienna on 30 November.
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Russia, which is not an Opec member, has said there is a good chance of an agreement on an output cut at the meeting.
The organisation has been attempting to lure in non-Opec producers to stem the global oil glut, which has wiped out prices and put pressure on oil companies' margins around the world.
Opec provisionally agreed to freeze production at a September meeting in Algiers, Algeria, though it has yet to be finalised.