Oil price hits $80 per barrel as OPEC+ retains monthly output

Oil prices surge on Tuesday as Brent crude, global oil benchmark, surpassed $80 per barrel.

At 16:00 GMT +1 on Tuesday, Brent crude climbed 1.09 percent to $80.07 a barrel — the highest since November 25, 2021.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures also witnessed a corresponding increase of 1.05 percent to $77 a barrel.

The is coming as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies known as OPEC+ agreed to stick to its plans to increase oil output by 400,000 barrels per day.

The oil cartel’s latest decision will be for the February 2022 oil production.

The agreement was reached at the 24th OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting (ONOMM) held virtually on Tuesday.

In December 2021, the alliance had also retained plans to add 400,000 barrels of oil to the market for January 2022.

The group had agreed that due to the rising cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19, it would continue to monitor the market closely.

At the meeting, the group also reiterated “the critical importance of adhering to full conformity and to the compensation mechanism taking advantage of the extension of the compensation period until the end of June 2022.”

The oil cartel will meet again on February 2 to decide on production levels for March.