Brent crude rises above $31 as Saudi Arabia hikes selling prices

Oil jumped after Saudi Arabia raised prices for refiners globally.

Futures in London added as much as 7.1%, moving beyond $31 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures rose 10%. State-run Saudi Aramco, which earlier this year initiated a price war by offering massive discounts on crude, has raised prices on all the grades for June. The move comes as the kingdom and its OPEC+ partners embark on sharp production cuts in a bid to rebalance a glutted market.

“The higher prices by Aramco suggest a recovery of demand and a hint that OPEC+ actually started to cut production in their aim to balance the market,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at ABN Amro.