Oil price rises to $65 a barrel as China, US cut tariffs

Brent crude oil price increased by 2.22 percent to $65.33 a barrel on Monday.

Also, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by 3.36 percent to $62.39 a barrel at 16.35 WAT.

According to Reuters, the development comes after the easing of some tariff measures between the US and China, sparking optimism for a resolution to the trade war between the world’s two largest crude oil consumers.

The US and China, on Monday, announced an agreement to temporarily slash tariffs after talks in Geneva, Switzerland, over the weekend.

Both sides agreed to a 90-day pause and said tariffs would be cut by more than 100 percentage points to a 10 percent baseline rate.

Currently, the US has imposed 145 percent tariff on Chinese imports while China’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods stand at 125 percent.

Although the global oil price is gaining momentum, it remains below Nigeria’s 2025 budget benchmark of $75 per barrel.

On Monday, Bayo Ojulari, group chief executive officer (GCEO), Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, said that with the level of global oil prices, the country will not receive the anticipated revenue from new upstream projects.

On April 24, Wale Edun, minister of finance, said the federal government would prioritise critical expenditures and ramp up oil production in response to declining oil prices, which have fallen below budget assumptions.