SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Oil prices rose on Wednesday after Saudi Arabia agreed to make bigger cuts in output than expected during a meeting with allied producers, while industry data showed U.S. crude stockpiles fell last week.
Brent crude rose 27 cents to $53.87 a barrel, the highest since Feb. 26, 2020. It was at $53.79 a barrel at 0147 GMT and gained 4.9% on Tuesday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures gained 14 cents to $50 a barrel. The contract on Tuesday closed up 4.6% at $49.93, its highest since Feb. 24, 2020.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, agreed on Tuesday to make additional, voluntary oil output cuts of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March, after a meeting with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers that form the group known as OPEC+.
The reductions agreed by Saudi Arabia were included in a deal to persuade other producers in the OPEC+ group to hold output steady.
With coronavirus infections spreading rapidly in many parts of the world producers are trying to support prices as demand takes a hit from new lockdowns being put in place.
“The decision came as a huge surprise as the organization struggled yesterday to agree to a deal,” Capital Economics said in a note, according to Reuters.
It “adds weight to our view that the oil market will be in a deficit … which will help lift the price of Brent to $60 per barrel by end-year,” it said.
U.S. crude oil inventories dropped by 1.7 million barrels in the week to Jan. 1 to 491.3 million barrels, data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute showed late on Tuesday.
