Oil rose, helped by positive news about vaccine trials and an EU stimulus deal, taking prices to levels last seen when an oil price war erupted in early March between Russia and Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said that OPEC+ was moving to the next phase of its oil cut pact when the group is expected to ease their reductions as oil demand recovers

Saudi Arabia has been heading efforts to press laggards such as Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Angola to improve compliance with the reductions and compensate for May overproduction in July-September

The group, known as OPEC+, also demanded countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, which exceeded production quotas in May and June, compensate with extra cuts from July to September

OPEC+ meet on Saturday to discuss extending record oil production cuts and to approve a new approach that aims to force laggards such as Iraq and Nigeria to comply better with the existing curbs

OPEC+ oil producers could still hold a ministerial video conference this week if Iraq and others which have not fully complied with existing oil supply cuts agree to boost their adherence

Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed a preliminary deal to extend existing record oil production cuts by one month while raising pressure on countries with poor compliance to deepen their cuts

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said that recently announced oil output cuts by major Gulf Arab producers would likely not be enough to balance global markets as coronavirus lockdowns hollow out demand

OPEC+ meets next in early June to decide on its output policy. Under the deal, the exporting group is set to scale back the cuts to 7.7 million barrels per day from July until December

Energy giant Saudi Aramco posted a 25% slump in first-quarter profits and said the coronavirus crisis which triggered a crash in oil prices would weigh heavily on demand in the year ahead