Brent oil rises on strong demand from China, supply cuts

- Chinese refiners increased their output to record 603.57 million tonnes last year, up 6.8 percent from 2017, data reveals

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $62.77 per barrel at 0654GMT on Monday, while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) saw prices of $53.97 per barrel.

Brent crude traded at $61.88 per barrel at 1152GMT on Friday while WTI saw $52.77 per barrel at the time.

The rise in prices came after China's National Bureau of Statistics announced earlier in the day that crude oil refinery output jumped to 603.57 million tonnes in 2018, or about 12.07 million barrels per day, up 6.8 percent from 2017.

Supply cuts by OPEC+ countries further supported the prices.

OPEC member countries and 10 non-OPEC producers agreed to cut supplies by 1.2 mb/d from Jan. 1 for six months, based on October 2018 levels at the OPEC/non-OPEC ministerial meeting in Vienna on Dec. 7, 2018.

OPEC will shoulder 0.8 mb/d of the cuts - equivalent to roughly 2.5 percent of its total output, and non-OPEC will endure the remaining 400 kb/d in cuts or about 2 percent of its total.

By Hale Turkes

Anadolu Agency

energy@aa.com.tr