Oil prices pushed higher after a fresh pledge from Saudi Arabia to reduce exports.

It also urged Opec members to to help cut global oversupply which has held back prices.

Brent crude was up 30 cents or 0.6% at $48.90 a barrel in the early hours of today, consolidating earlier rises.

US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 31 cents or 0.7% at $46.65.

Speaking in Russia the Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said Opec and non-Opec partners were committed to extending their existing deal to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day beyond March 2018 if necessary.

He said his country would limit crude oil exports at 6.6 million barrels per day in August, almost 1 million bpd below levels a year ago.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said an additional 200,000 barrels per day of oil could be removed from the market.

Source: dailybusinessgroup.co.uk