Oil extends gains as OPEC moves to cap Nigeria output

Oil prices extended gains on Tuesday after OPEC moved to cap Nigerian oil output and Saudi Arabia pledged to limit exports next month to help rein in global oversupply.

London Brent crude for September delivery was up 7 cents at $48.67 a barrel by 0039 GMT after settling up 54 cents or 1.1 percent on Monday.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 10 cents at $46.44.

OPEC member Nigeria had been exempt from the cartel’s deal with non-OPEC producers led by Russia to cut oil output by a combined 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) from January 2017 to March 2018.

OPEC agreed on Monday that Nigeria would join the pact by capping or even cutting its output from 1.8 million bpd, once it stabilises at that level from 1.7 million bpd recently.

Oil was also supported by comments from Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih, who said his country would limit crude oil exports at 6.6 million barrels per day in August, almost 1 million bpd below levels a year ago.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Monday that an additional 200,000 barrels per day of oil could be removed from the market if compliance with a global deal to cut output was 100 percent.

U.S. commercial crude oil inventories likely fell by 3 million barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday ahead of the data by the Industry group the American Petroleum Institute later in the day. [API/S}

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