Oil price hits 3-month high at $41.43

Oil prices rose one per cent yesterday with benchmark Brent prices hitting a three-month high on hopes for a coordinated approach by major producers to support prices.

On Monday, Global crude oil traded above $39 per barrel surpassing Nigeria's budget benchmark price of $38 per barrel

However, Brent crude futures were trading at $41.43 a barrel at their highest since Dec. 9, up 59 cents on Tuesday

On Monday, the contract had climbed 5.5 per cent in intra-day trading and it has now gained more than 50 per cent from this year's low on Jan. 20.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 38 cents at $38.28 a barrel.

'The bullish sentiment continues to push prices up or the absence of negative news,' said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

News of a meeting of Latin American crude producers set in Quito for Friday had boosted oil prices on Monday, and bullish sentiment swept over into yesterday's session.

The members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)  and other producers in Russia are also due to meet for talks on March 20, according to the Nigerian petroleum minister, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu.

Kuwait's oil minister said yesterday that his country's participation in an output freeze would require all major oil producers, including Iran, to be on board.

'I'll go full power if there's no agreement. Every barrel I produce I'll sell,' Anas al-Saleh told reporters in Kuwait City. The Nation