Oil prices have hit their highest in more than two months even as traders and investors anticipated the outcomes of the European Union agreement on banning Russian oil imports. 

The global benchmarks WTI  and Brent crude stood at $115.57 bpd and $119.88 bpd respectively.

The G7 countries meeting in Berlin have appealed OPEC to boost production despite new pledges to fight climate change and has said that OPEC has a ‘key role to play’ in responding to the tightening supplies in the international oil market 

OPEC in alliance with Russia known as OPEC+, has resisted calls from the US to increase its production beyond the its planned 400,000 barrels per day. The OPEC+ members are expected to meet next week.

Meanwhile, The European Union is drafting contingency plans in case of natural gas supply interruptions amidst the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

European Union hopes to replace most of the Russian natural gas it receives by the end of this year, but the bloc is looking for alternatives in case of a full scale disruption. EU’s contingency plans reportedly including curbing gas supply to industries as industrial users account for 27% of the EU’s gas consumption. The EU has been stocking up LNG deliveries from the United States recently.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that US crude oil production will average 11.9 million barrels per day this year and 12.8 million barrels per day in 2023, which would surpass the record average production of 12.3 million barrels per day set in 2019. Despite the increases in production, EIA expects the Brent crude oil price to remain above $100 per barrel this year, according to the agency’s May 2022 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).