Oil prices edge up on hopes of longer OPEC+ production cuts

Oil prices edged up on Tuesday amid hopes that the OPEC+ group will extend the agreement to cut crude production for at least another three months. Additionally, recent reports of another coronavirus vaccine with promising results also supported investor sentiment.

The OPEC+ technical committee suggested postponing the increase in production, which was scheduled to start in the beginning of 2021, for a period ranging from three to six months in light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic and the decline in demand for crude.

Currently, OPEC+ cuts production by about 7.7 million barrels per day, but this was to ease to 2 million barrels per day in January.

Meanwhile, Biotechnology firm Moderna Inc. said on Monday that its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing infection, based on interim late-stage data.

This comes after Pfizer and BioNTech last week announced that its vaccine was more than 90% effective.

In terms of trading, international benchmark Brent crude was trading up 0.8% at $ 44.17 a barrel, at 8.50 am Makkah time.

WTI crude for December delivery rose 0.7% to $41.61 a barrel.