Oil prices extend rebound on output cuts, still set to end tumultuous week in the red

TOKYO, April 24 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday,
gaining further ground as some producers like Kuwait said they
would move to cut output swiftly to try to counter the
evaporation in global demand for fuels caused by the coronavirus
pandemic.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 60 cents, or 2.8%, at $21.93 by
0133 GMT, having climbed 5% on Thursday. U.S. oil CLc1 gained
66 cents, or 4%, at $17.16 a barrel, after surging 20% in the
previous session.
But barring a sharper jump on the last trading day of the
week, prices are heading for their eighth weekly loss in the
last nine - one of the most tumultuous weeks in the history of
oil trading, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate falling into
negative territory to minus $37.63 a barrel on Monday, while
Brent thudded to a two-decade low.
"The disruption relating to the coronavirus is set to cause
the steepest fall in global GDP since the Second World War,"
Capital Economics said in a note, forecasting a 5.5% contraction
in global economies this year, dwarfing the 0.5% fall seen
during the global financial crisis.
"Once the virus is under control output should rebound, but
it will take years to return to its pre-virus path," it said.
Under a deal agreed between the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) and associated producers
like Russia, a grouping known as OPEC+, production cuts equal to
9.7 million barrels of oil per day are due to kick in from May.
But Kuwait's state news agency KUNA said on Thursday the
producer will begin cutting supplies to international markets
without waiting for the official start of the OPEC+ deal.
Meanwhile Azerbaijan's Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil project
will have to cut output sharply from May onwards as the oil
producer fulfils its commitments under the deal to cut
production, four sources told Reuters.