|  Updated: 

White House urges Opec to boost oil supply

This afternoon’s meeting between oil producer alliance Opec and Russia could send shockwaves through global energy markets.
The capital’s premier index jumped 0.46 per cent to 7,642.79 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, hopped 0.42 per cent to 19,230.39 points

The White House has urged the alliance of oil producing nations to rapidly scale oil production to avoid a slow down in the global economic recovery.

In a statement released today, the White House said President Joe Biden’s administration had pushed Opec to ramp up oil output to ease supply constraints.

Global benchmarks slipped on the news, with WTI and Brent Crude both down 0.98 per cent to $67.63 and $69.94 respectively.

The news comes amid mounting concerns that surging commodity and raw materials prices threatens to derail the rebound from the damage inflicted on the global economy by the Covid crisis.

Data from the US Labor Department released today shows fuel prices rose 2.4 per cent over the last month.

“At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough,” Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in the statement, referring to recently-agreed output boosts by Opec and its allies.

Opec+ agreed to raise output by 400,000 barrels a day a month at a meeting last month starting in August until they had run down their supply cuts enacted in response to a sharp drop in oil demand amid the worst of the pandemic.