Oil price keeps rising despite Opec+ production rise

The price of oil reached $120 a barrel this week, despite Opec+ saying it would raise production by 648,000 barrels a day.

Offshore oilrig
A surge to $175 a barrel would do immense damage
(Image credit: © Getty Images)

There’s a hurricane “right out there down the road coming our way”, JPMorgan Chase’s chief executive Jamie Dimon told a conference last week. “We just don’t know if it’s a minor one or Superstorm Sandy [which caused $65bn of damage in the US in 2012]… you better brace yourself.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means oil is likely to get much pricier, he said. Crude could hit $150-$175 per barrel.

Brent crude reached $120 a barrel this week, having risen more than 50% since the start of the year. The price spike came despite an announcement last week by producer group Opec+ that it would raise output by 648,000 barrels a day (bpd) in July and August, higher than the originally planned 432,000 bpd. The world consumes 100 million bpd of oil.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.