Brent crude rises 1% amid OPEC supply cuts

Brent crude prices rose nearly one percent on Monday, buoyed by OPEC production cuts and a possible deal between the United States and China on trade tariffs.

International benchmark Brent crude futures were trading up 58 cents (+ 0.9 percent) at $65.65 per barrel (2.25 pm Riyadh time), while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 41 cents (+0.7 percent) to $56.21 a barrel.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping could meet later this month to end the year-long trade war between the two countries, according to a CNN report.

"The fact that a full-blown trade war between the world’s two largest economies appears to have been averted is clearly a good thing," said Neil Shearing, Group Chief Economist, Capital Economics.

Additionally, supply from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell to a four-year low in February, a Reuters survey found, after OPEC+ agreed to a production output last December.

Oil prices have risen more than 25 percent this year, with Trump tweeting last month - his first tweet this year – calling upon OPEC+ to rein in rising crude prices.