mo4ch:>Oil rises on Middle East tensions & key crude producers’ reluctance to raise output | Mo4ch News

Crude prices rallied on Monday, hitting multi-week highs amid geopolitical tensions, as Saudi Arabia and fellow oil suppliers signaled that they might keep output cuts after the OPEC+ deal expires.Brent crude futures enjoyed a positive start to the week and rose 1.3 percent to $73.11 per barrel at 08:11am GMT, having earlier reached $73.39, the highest since April 26. Meanwhile, US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up $1.05 to $63.81 a barrel early on Monday, the highest since May 1, before sliding to $63.32 later in the day.The Brent price has gained more than 35 percent and WTI jumped 40 percent since the beginning of the year, after OPEC and other non-member producers led by Russia, an alliance known as OPEC+, agreed on production cuts to bolster crude prices. The current agreement expires in June when the oil producers are set to meet again to decide whether to end or further extend the existing reduction of 1.2 million barrels per day.The prices surged shortly aft…