Oil prices rose more than 8 percent on Wednesday as some of the world’s largest oil producers agreed to curb oil output for the first time since 2008 in a last-ditch bid to support prices.
OPEC agreed to cut production to 32.5 million barrels per day, Kuwait’s oil minister said. The cuts include Iraq reducing output by 200,000 bpd to 4.351 million bpd beginning in January.
Kuwait, Venezuela and Algeria have agreed to monitor compliance with the OPEC agreement.
Non-OPEC member Russia has agreed to cut output by 300,000 bpd. OPEC will meet with non-OPEC producers on Dec. 9.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures <CLc1 rose $4.02 to $49.25 a barrel, a 8.9 percent gain, by 11:24 a.m. (1624 GMT). WTI briefly traded at a high of $49.37 a barrel, a 9 percent gain.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $3.79 to $50.17 a barrel, a 8.2 percent gain.
(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper and Karolin Schaps in London, Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Chizu Nomiyama)
