Oil prices hike after Saudi Arabia announces OPEC could cut output

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, after Saudi Arabia announced that OPEC could cut output to correct a recent drop in oil futures.

Brent crude futures increased 32 cents to $96.80 a barrel by 0004 GMT, after a choppy session on Monday when they dropped by more than $4 before paring losses to trade near flat.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures hiked 37 cents to $90.73 a barrel by 0004 GMT.

The benchmarks decline around 12 percent and 8 percent this month, respectively.

“The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries stands ready to reduce production to correct the recent oil price fall driven by poor futures market liquidity and macro-economic fears, which has ignored extremely tight physical crude supply,” OPEC’s leader Saudi Arabia said on Monday.

OPEC+ has the means and flexibility to deal with challenges, according to a statement of Saudi state news agency SPA cited Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman to Bloomberg.