Oil just charged past $40

The price of oil has passed the $40 per barrel mark once again on Thursday as sentiment surrounding the world's most crucial traded commodity improves.

Oil prices had crashed last week, after Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammad bin Salman told Bloomberg that the country would only participate in output freezes if Iran and other major producers also played ball.

However, this week, speculation that a deal to freeze production will be struck when oil producers meet in Qatar on April 17th, has grown, especially after Wednesday's comments from Kuwait's OPEC governor that there are "positive indications an agreement [on a price freeze] will be reached."

Those comments have kept oil buoyant on Thursday, with extra help coming from a fall in US oil inventories, which slipped by 4.3 million barrels last week, against an expectation of a 2.9 million barrel jump. That was the second biggest fall of the year.

Just after 7:40 a.m. GMT (2:40 a.m. ET) Brent crude is up by 0.68% to $40.11, passing the $40 mark once again. Here's how that looks:

WTI has also popped, up by 1.01%, but still below $40, trading at $38.14 per barrel. Here's how that looks:

While oil has recovered this week, some are still sceptical about an agreement. Here's what Mike van Dulken from Accendo Markets has to say:

Oil prices benefiting from a not wholly surprising drawdown in US DoE/EIA Crude stockpiles. Not if you listen out for API data which comes out the evening before. This coupled with a weaker USD after the Fed FOMC minutes and rising hope that the 17 April Doha meeting will lead to an OPEC-led production freeze is seeing Brent back at $40 and US Crude at $38. We remain highly sceptical of a Doha deal with or without Iran on-board, given its aim is to keep raising production following the lifting of sanctions.