Oil prices stopped their slide as an OPEC source said that the organisation is planning to extend production cuts to at least June, and could potentially deepen the cuts.
Earlier, Russian news agency TASS reported that OPEC is eyeing an extension of its oil production cuts, potentially to the end of 2020.
The coronavirus outbreak has hit crude prices in the past week as fears emerged that it could have a negative impact on demand from China, the second largest consumer of crude oil globally.
Brent crude stopped its slide, sitting at $59 per barrel (as of writing).
OPEC’s deeper production cuts for 2020 are in effect; the organisation and its allies, collectively OPEC+, agreed to tighten output by 1.2mn bpd in 2019, and in December decided to deepen cuts by an additional 500,000bpd.
Saudi Arabia, which has shouldered additional cuts through 2019 to compensate for other members that did not fully comply with their quotas, will continue to overcomply with cuts, taking approximately 400,000 more barrels per day off the market.
The group has exceeded its cuts, Reuters found that compliance rose to 158% in December, up from 153% in November.
