Brent oil above $65 at week ending March 16

- Brent crude at $65.18 per barrel while WTI sees $61.34 on Monday

International Benchmark Brent crude traded at $65.18 per barrel while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) saw $61.34 at 11.16 GMT on Monday.

Brent crude was trading at $65.44 per barrel while WTI saw $60.00 at 09.26 GMT+3 on Monday.

Global oil demand is estimated at 97.8 million barrels per day (mb/d) in 2017, unchanged from last month, the International Energy Agency report said on Thursday.

'Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) crude oil production edged lower in February to 32.1 mb/d, led by losses in Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates. The call on OPEC crude rises steadily to 32.6 mb/d in 2H18, 480 kb/d higher than current output,' the report indicated.

Taking OPEC as a whole, its quota compliance in February was 147 percent, up from 137 percent in January.

On Wednesday, according to OPEC's monthly report OPEC's crude oil production decreased by 77 thousand b/d to 32.19 mb/d in February.

The decline of OPEC's crude oil production is in line with OPEC and Russia's decision to extend the output cut deal in 2018 to boost flagging oil prices.

In February, output in non-OPEC countries reached 66.01 mb/d up by 450 thousand b/d from January levels.

In addition, the U.S.' crude oil exports increased in both volume and number of destinations last year, the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.

After lifting the self-imposed ban on crude oil exports in December 2015, U.S. crude was exported to 27 destinations in 2016, but rose to 37 countries in 2018.

By Gulsen Cagatay

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr