Mubasher: Oil prices have increased during the week ended Friday by 3.5%, as hopes for extending the output agreement are getting higher.

The price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or (Nymex) futures went up by 3.5% to $47.84 per barrel (pb) compared to $46.22 pb in the week before.

Meanwhile, Brent Crude increased by 3.5% to $50.84 pb compared to $49.10 pb at the previous week’s close.

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are scheduled to meet at the end of the month to discuss extending the agreement they reached last November to reduce daily production by 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels for a period of six months, staring from January 2017.