Talks to bury oil hatchet

The Saudi-led Opec group of oil producers and their allies will meet on Monday via video conference, a source close to Opec said on Friday, to seek to boost oil prices which have tumbled by two-thirds since the beginning of the year.

Top world crude exporter Saudi Arabia on Thursday made a surprise call for a meeting of the Opec group and its Opec+ partners to “stabilise the oil market”.

The market has been rocked by the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and a price war between Saudi Arabia and the key player in the Opec+ grouping, Russia.

News of the meeting sent oil prices up with Brent crude gaining a further 10 per cent, extending a rally started with Thursday’s announcement.