Brent oil price was heading for a weekly gain of around 23% on Friday as the global oil market awaits OPEC to take immediate action to trim some of the oversupply in the global oil market caused by low oil demand in the world.
Price of Brent crude was trading at $28.94 per barrel at 1200 GMT on Friday, as the international benchmark was heading for a 23.2% weekly gain after it opened Monday at $23.48 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $26.71 a barrel at the same time, heading for a 33% weekly increase, after starting Monday at $20.07 per barrel.
Both benchmark hit Monday their lowest levels since 2002 as coronavirus keeps global oil demand low and causes massive increase in the glut of supply in the global oil market.
However, the surge in prices came on Thursday, when both benchmarks soared by more than 16% on a daily basis, after Trump said he talked to Saudi Arabia and Russia's leaders about a possible cut in their oil production levels.
Trump said he was hoping and expecting the two countries to curb their oil production levels by 10-15 million barrels per day, although Moscow later refuted those statements.
On Friday, Azerbaijan's ministry of energy announced that OPEC members will hold a video conference on April 6, Monday to discuss how they can stabilize the oil market.
Later on Friday, Trump is expected to meet with executives of major U.S. oil companies to discuss the recent developments in the global oil market.
OPEC members, led by Saudi Arabia, and their allies that include Russia failed on March 6 during their meeting in Austria, Vienna to make deeper and longer cuts into their production levels.
It remains unclear whether Russia would be joining the video conference on Monday.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr