Oil price rises as OPEC looks to deepen, extend supply cuts

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures settled at $25.78 a barrel, up $1.64, or 6.8%. Brent crude futures settled at $29.98 a barrel, gaining 35 cents, or 1.2%

NEW YORK: Oil prices rose on Tuesday after OPEC's de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, said it would increase supply curbs in June, while other members of the oil-producing group said they want to extend the deep cuts reached in April for a longer period than originally agreed.

OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, decided in April to cut output by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) for May and June, a record reduction, in response to the 30% drop in fuel demand worldwide caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The group was expected to curtail that reduction to 8 million bpd, but sources told Reuters they instead expect OPEC+ to maintain the larger reduction.