RIYADH: Oil benchmark Brent futures breached $80 a barrel for the first time since May on Wednesday after US inflation data suggested the interest rate hike cycle in the world’s biggest economy is set to finally cool. Data released on Wednesday showed US consumer prices rose modestly in June and registered their smallest annual increase in more than two years as inflation continued to subside. Brent futures were 51 cents up at $79.91 a barrel at 03:56 p.m. Saudi time, having risen as high as $80.05 earlier. US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 62 cents at $75.45 a barrel. Top producer Saudi Arabia pledged last week to extend a production cut of 1 million barrels per day in August, while Russia will cut exports by 500,000 bpd. Azerbaijan oil output at 15.2m metric tons in H1 Azerbaijan’s oil output reached 15.2 million metric tons between January and June this year, the country’s Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said on Wednesday on Twitter, a decline of 8 percent from the year-earlier period. Oil production in Azerbaijan has been declining as the output at the Azeri–Chirag-Gunashli complex of offshore oilfields, operated by BP, has passed its peak. The minister also said it exported 12.7 million metric tons of oil in the first half of the year. Qatar expects record volume of LNG offtake signings this year​ Qatar will sign record volumes of long-term liquefied natural gas offtake contracts this year, Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi said on Tuesday at a conference in Vancouver. About 40 percent of new global LNG output will come from Qatar by 2029, Al-Kaabi said at the LNG 2023 conference. Iraq to trade crude oil for Iranian gas to settle power debt Iraq will begin trading crude oil for Iranian gas to end the recurring payment delays to Tehran due to the need for US approval, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Sudani said. Sudani said Iran had cut gas exports to Iraq by more than 50 percent as of July 1 after Baghdad failed to secure US approval to disburse owed funds, but Tehran had now agreed to resume gas exports in exchange for crude oil. The deal was reached during talks with an Iranian delegation in Baghdad since Saturday, Sudani said in a televised speech. (With input from Reuters)