The oil cartel OPEC has agreed its first supply cut in eight
years in order to boost the price of oil.
Mohammed Bin Saleh
Al-Sada, OPEC’s president, said a cut of 1.2 million barrels a day would start
from January.
It comes after more than
two years of depressed oil prices, which have more than halved since 2014, due
to a supply glut on the market.
The price of Brent crude
jumped 10% to $51.94 a barrel, and US crude rose 9% to $49.53.
In addition to the
production cut by OPEC members, non-OPEC countries will be expected to reduce
production by 600,000 barrels a day, according to Mr Al-Sada.
He did not list which
countries these might be, beyond saying Russia was prepared to cut 300,000
barrels from its output of more than 10 million barrels a day.
“This agreement comes
from a sense of responsibility from OPEC member countries and non-OPEC member
countries for the general well-being and health of the world economy,” he said.
The deal comes after oil
ministers agreed to a cut in principle in September, which would have limited
output by about 700,000 barrels a day while allowing Iran to increase
production.
But disagreements between
Saudi Arabia – the world’s biggest oil producer – and Iran led to doubts an
agreement would be secured.
·
Source: Daily Post
No comments:
Post a Comment