The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) daily basket price stood at 44.62 U.S. dollars a barrel on Thursday, compared with 44.24 dollars per barrel on Wednesday, according to OPEC Secretariat calculations released Friday.

Also known as the OPEC reference basket of crude oil, the OPEC basket, a weighted average of oil prices from different OPEC members around the world, is used as an important benchmark for crude oil prices.