The price of the N. Sea Brent crude oil benchmark leapt above $40 a barrel tonight to a two-month high after markets took heart from the prospects of stable, or reducing, global oil output on more speculation of a deal between Moscow and Saudi Arabia.
Brent gained $2.12 – 5½% – to close at $40.84 amid market rumours that OPEC producers want a higher anchor price after a production boom as part of an economic price war against US shale oil gas suppliers that has seen crude prices plummet from more than $110-barrels two years ago.
The price of Brent crude has now gone up more than 40% from the low it reached in January, although it remains 70% below its peak in the summer of 2014.
The higher the price of N. Sea Brent crude oil, the longer the economic life of the ‘uber-mature’ basin.

- Sir Ian Diamond, Principal, University of Aberdeen
- Paul Goodfellow, Shell UK
- Gunther Newcombe, OGA
- Graeme Young, CMS
- Derek Leith, EY
- Prof. John Paterson, University of Aberden
- Amec Foster-Wheeler
- Prof. Alex Kemp, University of Aberdeen
The 2016 UK Oil and Gas Collaboration Conference – Aberdeen 14 April