Crude rises after U.S., Russia agree to oil market talks

SEOUL, March 31 (Reuters) - Oil recovered some ground on
Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President
Vladimir Putin agreed to discuss stablising energy markets, but
prices remain near 18-year lows as the coronavirus shutdown
destroys demand.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up by 19 cents, or 0.8%, at $22.95 a
barrel by 0051 GMT, after closing at $22.76 in the previous
session, the lowest close since November 2002.
U.S. crude Clc1 was up by 59 cents, or 2.9%, at $20.68 a
barrel, after settling down at $20.09, the lowest close since
February 2002.
Oil markets have faced a double whammy from the coronavirus
outbreak and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia after
OPEC and other producers failed to agree on deeper cuts to
support oil prices in early March.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir
Putin agreed during a phone call on Monday to have their top
energy officials discuss stablising oil markets, the Kremlin
said on Monday. "President Trump called President Putin to discuss oil.
Presumably, in an attempt to get Russia to pull up a chair to
the negotiating table with Saudi Arabia or maybe even loosening
sanctions on Russia," said Stephen Innes, market strategist at
AxiTrader.
"Any sign of Russia and Saudi making nice will be positive
for oil ... But it is an evolving story, and oil prices have
recovered above WTI $20 after a chaotic session."
Saudi Arabia, de facto leader of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), planned to boost its oil
exports to 10.6 million barrels per day (bpd) from May on lower
domestic consumption, a Saudi energy ministry official said.
Global oil refiners, meanwhile, have cut their production
due to the slump in demand for transportation fuel, with
European refineries slashing output by at least 1.3 million
barrels per day (bpd), sources told Reuters.