Oil price rises amid Libya’s production shutdown, planned Iraqi cuts

Oil prices edged up on Friday amid global supply concerns driven by the shutdown of oil fields in Libya and reports of planned production cuts in Iraq.

International benchmark Brent crude increased by 0.43% to $79.16 per barrel, up from the previous session's close of $78.82, News.Az reports.

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose by 0.37% to $76.19 per barrel, following a close of $75.91 in the prior session.

The rise in prices is attributed to fears of potential supply shortages due to the suspension of oil production in Libya. Libya's National Oil Corp. reported that the shutdown, ordered by the eastern government, has resulted in losses exceeding $120 million over three days. Production rates have plummeted from nearly 1.3 million barrels per day at the start of the shutdown to 591,024 barrels on Wednesday.

Libya, one of the major members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) group, produced 1.18 million barrels of crude oil per day in July.

Iraq will cut output to between 3.85 million and 3.9 million barrels per day, after producing about 4.25 million bpd in July.

News.Az