OPEC price stands at USD 70.60 pb

VIENNA, Aug 13 (KUNA) -- Price of OPEC's 14-crude basket went down USD 1.43 on Friday to reach USD 70.60 per barrel (pb) compared with USD 72.03 pb last Thursday, the organization news bulletin said on Monday.
The monthly rate for the basket for July was at 73.27 bp, while in June it was at 73.22 bp, said OPEC, indicating that the average price in the beginning of 2018 until the end of last week was around USD 71.89 a barrel.
The annual rate for OPEC basket for the last year rated USD 52.43 pb, OPEC noted.
OPEC's Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).
Ministers and officials from member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and others from outside the bloc agreed, at a meeting on June 22nd in Vienna on upholding an agreement among the OPEC ministers at their 174th meeting to increase crude output by one million barrels per day.
In late 2016, OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to slash the production by 1.8 million bpd. The output cut lead to significance hike of the crude prices. (end) amq.gaa