After months of wrangling, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Wednesday decided to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day. Here's a recap of MarketWatch's live blog of the OPEC meeting and the market reaction.

11:34 am | It's official - OPEC agrees to production cut

It’s official now — OPEC has agreed to cut daily production by 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million.

That confirms previous media reports that the cartel was taking steps to limit production.

Speaking at a press conference in Vienna after Wednesday’s meeting, Qatar energy minister and president of the OPEC Conference, Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada called the decision a “historic moment” and a “great success”. The cut will come into effect in January.

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia will tak thee biggest output reduction at about 486,000 barrels a day, according to Al-Sada.

On top of the 1.2 million-barrels-a-day OPEC cut, key non-OPEC producers have agreed to scale back their production by 600,000 barrels a day, with Russia taking on half of that cut.

Al-Sada also confirmed that Indonesia, which had rejoined OPEC as a member less than a year ago after a suspension in 2009, has asked OPEC to suspend its membership. Indonesia expressed difficulty in participating in the deal because it is a net importer of oil, he said.

Oil prices jumped to fresh intraday highs after Al-Sada’s comments. Crude oil for January surged by as much as 9.2% to $49.37 a barrel, while Brent for February logged a 9.6% gain to $51.84.

OPEC press conference finally underway!#OOTT#OPECpic.twitter.com/isNLuO30Ks

— Sara Sjölin (@sarasjolin) November 30, 2016

10:43 am | Inventories fall

And in non-OPEC related oil news today, the latest U.S. inventory figures are in.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said domestic crude supplies in the week ended Nov. 25 fell by 900,000 barrels. That was a bigger fall than the drop of 250,000 barrels expected by analysts polled by S&P Global Platts.

Oil prices held to gains after the data, with crude up 7.1% to $48.45 a barrel. Such a gain would be the biggest for a front-runner contract since February.

Oil is holding to gain as we wait for the OPEC press conference and the final details of the output deal. https://t.co/Cl1ZyMdWMZpic.twitter.com/s5kJqDEgbT

— Sara Sjölin (@sarasjolin) November 30, 2016

10:26 am | Managing expectations

As we wait for the list of country quotas and final details of the OPEC output deal to emerge, analysts have started to question how bullish this agreement really is for the oil market.

James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics, points out that if the reported 1.2 million-barrel reduction per day includes the exclusion of Indonesia, then the cut is really only about 500,000 barrels a day.

“The loss of Indonesia in and of itself is a non event. If they are counting its exit as part of the 1.2 million cut, then the agreement is not very bullish,” he said.

Tyler Richey, co-editor of the 7:00’s Report, also pointed out that Indonesia’s output won’t just disappear.

“But rather it will be added to the ‘non-OPEC’ production figures, which will balance out in the broad global oil supply and demand equation,” he said.

Oil prices have come off their intraday highs ahead of the news conference, but are still showing solid gains. WTI crude oil is up 7.3% at $48.54 a barrel, while Brent is 7.7% higher at $49.93.

10:02 am | The Indonesia surprise

One of the big surprises from today’s OPEC meeting was that Indonesia was booted from the cartel.

The country’s output quota is said to have been redistributed to some of the remaining OPEC members.

“Indonesia is irrelevant to OPEC and really should not have been admitted back in. It used to be a net exporter of crude oil and while it produces 722,000 barrels per day of oil and does export some, it is a net importer of petroleum. It consumes twice as much as it produces,” said James Williams, energy economist at WTRG Economics.

“Until about 2003 it produced more than it consumed. Since it is a net importer, it really wants lower not higher oil prices and just does not belong in OPEC.”

9:56 am | Waiting for press conference | by Sara Sjolin

The closely watched OPEC meeting in Vienna has now concluded for the delegates to have lunch and a statement is expected later this afternoon.

A press conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern/3 p.m. London) and can be watched live here.

The group has reportedly agreed to cut daily production to 32.5 million barrels, with Saudi Arabia taking a “big hit” and Iran allowed to ramp up production to presanction levels.

9:33 am | Latest news from meeting | by Sara Sjolin

Reuters is now also reporting that OPEC has agreed to cut output, but gives no details on the actual amount.

The deal was sealed as Saudi Arabia said it was prepared to take “a big hit” on its production and agree to let rival Iran increase production to presanction levels, according to the newswire.

In other headlines out of Vienna just now, according to reports:

- Saudi Arabia will cut output to 10.06 million barrels a day. The nation produced 10.55 million barrels a day in November, according to Vienna-based JBC Energy

- Iranian output will be capped at 3.797 million barrels a day, enough to allow the country to return to presanction levels

- The output deal will be effective in January and will last for six months, but can be extended

- Indonesia is said to have been suspended from OPEC, with some of the remaining member states snapping up the country’s quota

Reports: #OPEC has removed Indonesia’s membership, giving it 740k b/d of wiggle room. Sort of like cutting off your arm to lose weight #OOTT

— Sam Wilkin (@MrSamWilkin) November 30, 2016





8:55 am | Don't expect oil to top $55 even with OPEC deal | by William Watts

Even if OPEC does finalize a deal today, the oil market is still likely to see a “sizeable oversupply” in 2017, write analysts at Vienna-based JBC Energy.

That’s because non-OPEC producers, particularly U.S. shale players, are “ready to step in and compensate for any significant cut that temporarily spurs prices,” they said.

That means it’s unlikely OPEC will offer a plan “decisive enough to target a longer term upside to prices and consequently do not expect to see prices move sustainably above $55 per barrel next year.”

The analysts offer OPEC some advice, however, saying the cartel would be more likley to succeed if it aimed to defend the downside to prices at, for example, an OPEC basket price of $40 a barrel.

“To do this some sort of conditional cut mechanism could be created that would be triggered if the price undershoots the floor level for longer than a predefined period,” they wrote. “Ultimately, however, such a mechanism would be prone to the same difficult questions, i.e. who cuts; by how much; and according to which statistics.”

8:49 am | OPEC agrees to cut output, Bloomberg says | by Sara Sjolin

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has agreed to cut oil production for the first time in eight years.

The cartel will reduce its total supply by 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million barrels a day, according to Bloomberg, citing a delegate to the group.

That’s slightly lower than rumors earlier in the day that said OPEC was ready to cut production by 1.4 million barrels a day.

Security gathering outside Opec HQ in Vienna. Could be a sign that ministers are about to emerge. #oott

— OlegT (@Oleg_T1980) November 30, 2016

Oil prices held on to their sharp gains, with WTI crude up 7.5% at $48.69 a barrel and Brent oil 8.1% higher at $50.13.

“This is certainly the best present traders could have for Christmas – a supply cut from OPEC. The cartel has shown united front and this is what matters the most. There have been so many doubts over the year if they have the ability to deliver anything and today they have,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets UK, in a note.

8:20 am | Canadian dollar sees delayed boost on OPEC hopes | by William Watts

Oil's been soaring on expectations for an OPEC deal, but the Canadian dollar saw something of a delayed reaction, with the U.S. dollar "belatedly" dipping below C$1.34 earlier this morning, wrote Jeremy Stretch, macro strategist at CIBC, in a note.

Stretch remains skeptical of a sustained rally by the loonie barring a much more aggressive OPEC deal than currently anticipated. He writes:

Despite the breach of the 1.34 threshold we remain well away from strong support, in line with the 50-day MAV, currently 1.3319. While hopes for a somewhat larger production cut, taking output towards the lower end of the Algiers range are increasingly being discounted even this may not be enough to encourage WTI to rally beyond recent highs at USD49.20p/b. Thus unless oil rallies more aggressively than expected we would look to buy USD CAD dips back towards support.

7:48 am | If there is no deal? | by Sara Sjolin

Oil prices are surging on the prospect of an OPEC deal, but what if there is no agreement to cut production today?

Analysts at Commerzbank said in a note out earlier this morning that the oil market would be "significantly oversupplied" without an output reduction.

"If no agreement is reached, the oil price is likely to plunge back towards the $40 per barrel mark," they said.

What happens if there is no OPEC production deal today? Prices could crash to $40, Commerzbank says #OOTT#OPECpic.twitter.com/ZiqrK0BEQG

— Sara Sjölin (@sarasjolin) November 30, 2016

7:31 am | Oil price stats | by Sara Sjolin

The sharp rallies in oil prices today are by no means unusual for an OPEC meeting.

As this chart below shows, prices have moved sharply higher following other key summits this year, including the April meeting in Doha and the Algiers gathering in September.

AN UPDATE ON THE PRICE ACTION AFTER EACH OF THE MAJOR #OPEC MEETINGS THIS YEAR. #OOTTpic.twitter.com/na5eKSh6mX

— Samir (Sam) Madani (@Samir_Madani) November 30, 2016

Samir Madani is the culprit behind the #OOTT, the hashtag for the Organization of Oil-Trading Tweeters

7:20 am | Russia ruble rallies | by Sara Sjolin

The ruble is one of the big winners today as the OPEC output deal gets closer.

The Russian currency jumped 1.7% against to the dollar. The greenback was buying 64.035 rubles, compared with 65.110 late Tuesday in New York.

Russia is said to consider cutting production beyond the expected OPEC output agreement. The cartel has proposed that non-OPEC members should reduce production by a total of 600,000 million barrels a day, with 400,000 of those coming from Russia.

However, an energy source from the country called that number “a bit excessive”.

*RUSSIA SAID TO CONSIDER 200K B/D OIL CUT IF THERE’S OPEC DEAL. BBG. #OOTT

— Lee Saks (@Lee_Saks) November 30, 2016

7:08 am | U.S. energy stocks rally premarket | by Sara Sjolin

The positive noises out of the OPEC meeting in Vienna is helping lift U.S. oil majors premarket this morning.

Energy stocks are the S&P 500’s biggest premarket gainers as hopes rise that OPEC will make a deal $XLEhttps://t.co/WEUC6ZimCZpic.twitter.com/8Wm4rsZsgT

— Victor Reklaitis (@vicrek) November 30, 2016

The Velocity Shares 3x Crude Oil ETF, or UWTI, surged 24% ahead of the bell as well.

U.S. stock-index futures were also higher.

7:04 am | Deal getting closer | by Sara Sjolin

OPEC delegates meeting in Vienna are very close to reaching a deal to curb oil output, according to reports.

*OPEC VERY CLOSE TO A DEAL TO CUT SUPPLY BY 1.4M B/D: DELEGATE

*OPEC ALSO CLOSE TO SECURING 600K B/D NON-OPEC CUT: DELEGATE

— Nour E. Al-Hammoury (@NourHammoury) November 30, 2016

A deal to cut supply by 1.4 million barrels a day would be larger than the 1.2 million reported earlier on Wednesday.

January Brent oil broke above $50 a barrel after the news, up 8.1%. WTI oil jumped 7.8% to $48.75.

6:50 am | Saudis to accept Iran output | by Sara Sjolin

Saudi Arabia is said to accept Iran pumping 3.9 million barrels of oil a day within a broader OPEC deal on total cartel production.

According to both Bloomberg and Energy Intelligence, the OPEC kingpin is willing to let its rival boost output to around its pre-sanctions level, which was 3.975 million barrels a day.

Such a move would clear one of the major hurdles in reaching a deal in Vienna today, as Iran has repeatedly insisted it would not agree to any cuts or freeze until it was back at normal levels.

#OPEC delegates tell @energyintel that saudi is willing to accept 3.9 for #Iran as we reported before #OOTT

— Amena Bakr (@Amena__Bakr) November 30, 2016





6:32 am | 4 possible outcomes | by Sara Sjolin

As the OPEC delegates head into their closed meeting, here’s a recap of the four possible outcomes of today’s meeting, as sketched out by our commodities guru Myra Saefong.

1) OPEC members agree to cut production

2) OPEC fails to reach a collective agreement on output

3) OPEC freezes output at record levels

4) OPEC postpones an agreement

Initial comments from OPEC delegates suggest they are determined to reach a deal today, although some — including Indonesia’s oil minister — have said there are still issues that needs to be resolved.

6:18 am | Russia pushes back | by Sara Sjolin

Russia is now pushing back against OPEC’s proposed output cuts by non-cartel members.

According to Reuters, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries wanted non-OPEC producers to slash production by 600,000 barrels a day, with 400,000 of those coming from Russia.

However, an energy source from the country calls that number “a bit excessive”.

#Russia energy source says 400K bpd cut in #oil output floated by #OPEC might be “a bit excessive” – sounds almost British… pic.twitter.com/4dhcNfDGoN

— Amanda Cooper (@a_coops1) November 30, 2016

The comments have dond little to temper the rally in oil prices. January WTI is still up 6.5% at $48.15 a barrel, while Brent for the same month is 7% higher at $49.67.

6:06 am | Size of cuts | by Sara Sjolin

The latest reports out of Vienna suggest OPEC is considering a larger-than-expected output cut.

Reuters is reporting that the cartel is considering cutting by 1.4 million barrels a day, up from the 1.2 million barrels initially expected.

[BREAKING] Output production cut seen at 1.4mbpd up from 1.2mbpd – Reuters sources

— Livesquawk (@Livesquawk) November 30, 2016

There are also reports that non-OPEC countries might cut output by 600,000 barrels a day, with Russia accounting for 400,000 of those.

OMG!!!! #OPEC#OOTThttps://t.co/watWXQwG1s

— Amena Bakr (@Amena__Bakr) November 30, 2016



Oil prices rallied to new intraday highs after those reports, with crude for January now up 6.3% to $48.07 a barrel. Such a move is the biggest for a front-runner contract since April.

However, a deal on Wednesday could still be derailed. Indonesian oil minister Ignasius Jonan said there are still issues to resolve and that wouldn’t be easy to do, according to The Wall Street Journal.

5:30 am | Brent climbs above $50

Brent for February has jumped back above the $50-a-barrel handle this morning after several OPEC delegates struck an optimistic tone that an output deal can be reached later today.

The contract briefly jumped as much as 6% to an intra-day high of $50.15 a barrel, before slipping back to $49.81. But that's still a 5.3% rise on Tuesday's settlement of $47.32, according to FactSet data.

The Brent January contract, which expires at the end of trade on Wednesday, was up 5.6% at $48.98 a barrel.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs said earlier this week that "if the proposed OPEC production cut to 32.5 million barrels a day is agreed to, we would expect prices to rally to the low $50s a barrel."

Brent oil for February has moved above the $50 mark after positive noises from the OPEC meeting. #OOTT#OPEChttps://t.co/Cl1ZyMdWMZpic.twitter.com/n5weMgcylA

— Sara Sjölin (@sarasjolin) November 30, 2016

5:14 am | Opening statement in full

Here's the opening address from the OPEC summit by Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Qatar's Minister of Energy and Industry and President of the OPEC Conference.

Highlights include:

"OPEC fully appreciates the importance of bringing forward the rebalancing of the fundamentals and returning sustainable stability to the market. This will be beneficial to our economies, the global oil market and the world economy as a whole."

"The past month or so has shown that price volatility is still a significant concern."

"[The] persistent stock overhang, as well as the recent price volatility, has sharpened our minds. All producers now understand the gravity of the situation. And I should add that all consumers should comprehend the gravity of the situation too."

"We need to ask ourselves whether the situation that has evolved over the past two years or so is putting this future at risk. Global spending on exploration and production investments fell in both 2015 and 2016, and some are now even talking about this continuing. A third year of investment falls would be unprecedented for the industry."

5:07 am | Boost to Europe's oil giants

Oil producers and energy-related companies in Europe are also getting a boost from the optimism in Vienna.

Shares of Tullow Oil are up 5.2%, Galp Energia has jumped 3.9%, BP is up 2.3% and Royal Dutch Shell has risen 2.9%.

The moves have helped lift the Stoxx Europe 600 oil and gas index this morning, trading up 1.4%.

4:54 am | Saudi Arabia hints deal could come today

Saudi Arabia says there is a “good chance” the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will agree on a deal to curb oil production.

Speaking ahead of the closed session, the country’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih said he hopes an agreement will come later today and that Iran will be allowed to ramp-up production to pre-sanctions levels.

He also said he hopes non-OPEC countries will follow suit and cut output. The Saudi oil boss, however, sought to manage expectations, adding that fundamentals are moving in the right direction and that oil markets would survive without a deal.

LATEST: “I hope we will have a deal” on OPEC output, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister says https://t.co/XSF13iEApzpic.twitter.com/6Uvo7Ja2TT

Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh also struck an upbeat tone, saying there is no finalized deal yet, but that he is optimistic about the outcome. Whether or not Iran would back an agreement to limit OPEC production has been one of major obstacles in completing the output plan.

The country is still boosting output after sanctions were lifted in January, and the oil minister had repeatedly said Iran would not agree to any cuts before its production was back to normal.

Oil prices rallied after the comments from the oil ministers, with West Texas Intermediate up 4.9% at $47.44 a barrel. Brent rose 5.2% to $48.80.

4:23 am | U.S. premarket winners | by Victor Reklaitis

As crude prices jump, energy-related stocks are the S&P 500's biggest premarket winners, helping S&P futures rise modestly.

Transocean is up 4%, Chesapeake is tacking on 3%, and Valero is gaining 2%.

4:21 am

All of the OPEC ministers have now arrived at the meeting in Vienna, and we are waiting for the opening statement before the closed session starts at noon Austria time.

The initial comments from various delegates, including Iraq, Algeria, Iran, the UAE and OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo indicate the 14 members are getting closer to reaching a deal on how to limit output.

According to The Wall Street Journal, an agreement that would ask 10 OPEC members to cut 4.5% of output has been circulated in Vienna. The deal would exempt Libya and Nigeria because they are still ramping up production after armed conflicts and civil unrest in those countries.

"There are a few scenarios which can be played out today when it comes to the OPEC meeting. Our base case scenario is that there will be a deal, and the cartel will deliver some positive news," said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Think Markets, in a note.

"The expectations are that we may get a supply cut of one million b/d, but we believe that is way too much optimistic. We contemplate that the cut will be between 0.5-0.8 million b/d," he added.

3:54 am | Oil rallies on upbeat OPEC comments

Oil prices are leaping higher after reports OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said a deal to balance the struggling market will be done today.

Crude oil has jumped 3.8% to $46.92 a barrel, while Brent is up 4.1% at $48.25.

There have also been positive noises coming from Algeria and Nigeria, with both saying a deal to curb production will be hammered out at the meeting in Vienna, according to Reuters.

Additionally, Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh, who has insisted his country won’t limit its production, said he has “good expectations” of an agreement on output cuts after receiving proposals that were acceptable to Iran.

We are still waiting to hear from OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia.

Wow - oil now up almost 4% on positive noises from OPEC ministers that a deal can be agreed today #OOTT#OPEChttps://t.co/Mc2hc9GnKmpic.twitter.com/tUWQiABbRg

— Sara Sjölin (@sarasjolin) November 30, 2016

3:25 am | Key times to watch | by Sara Sjolin

We expect lots of chatter and rumors throughout the day, but here are the key official times to watch for the OPEC meeting:

9:20 a.m. Vienna time (3:20 a.m. Eastern/8:20 a.m. London)

OPEC has said it would offer a live webcast of the events, including interviews, starting at about this time. You can find the link here.

10 a.m. Vienna time (4 a.m. Eastern/9 a.m. London): Opening session

The tentative program shows that the opening address will be presented at this time by the president of the OPEC Conference, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, who is also Qatar’s minister of energy and industry.

Noon Vienna time (6 a.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. London): Closed session

OPEC heads of delegation, Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, and Chairman of Board of Governors Mohamed Hamel, will convene behind closed doors.

For the next four hours, their discussions will include attempts to come to a compromise on production levels to help boost oil prices.

4 p.m. Vienna time (10 a.m. Eastern, 3 p.m. London): Press conference

President of the Conference al-Sada and Secretary-General Barkindo will hold a press conference announcing the outcome of the meeting.

OPEC will offer the text of the conclusion speech on its website shortly afterward.

3:24 am | Deal or no deal?

Good morning. It's a big day for oil markets.

The OPEC meeting in Vienna that traders and analysts have keenly been discussing, fretting over and awaiting for months is finally kicking off this morning.

The issue is simple: Will the 14 cartel members agree on measures to freeze or cut oil production in a bid to stabilize the struggling market?

The organization in late September agreed on an accord to target production between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels a day, effectively pointing to a production cut from current levels around 33.83 million barrels a day in October. The finals details and implementation plans are what's supposed to be hashed out today.

The process to get there, however, is not as simple. While there seems to be broad consensus that some action is needed, a potential deal is being hobbled by political issues and disputes over country quotas.

Read: The 4 most likely outcomes, and market reactions, ahead of the OPEC meeting

Iran, for example, insists it won't curb production as it ramps up supply following years of sanctions from the U.S. and Europe. Meanwhile, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia stands firm that there won't be any output plan without Tehran playing a meaningful role.

In early Wednesday trade, crude oil prices were up 1.7% at $46 a barrel, while Brent was up 2% at $47.29 a barrel.</s>Oil futures rallied Wednesday to settle at their highest level since late October after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced its first agreement in eight years to cut its crude production. January West Texas Intermediate crude CLF27, -49.47% rose $4.21, or 9.3%, to settle at $49.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Oct. 27 and prices scored their strongest one-day percentage gain since February, according to FactSet data. It gained about 5.5% for the month, based on the most-active contracts.</s>The oil cartel finalized an agreement on Wednesday to cut its overall production by 1.2 million barrels a day.

Crude prices boomed by almost 9% to $49.20 per barrel as investors cheered the long-awaited deal.

The agreement will set OPEC's new production ceiling at 32.5 million barrels a day starting in January. That's down from the 33.6 million barrels a day the group pumped in October.

"We have been able to reach an agreement," said Qatar's oil minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada. "This agreement is out of the sense of responsibility for OPEC member countries, for non-OPEC countries, for the general well-being and the health of the world economy."

Indonesia had decided to suspend its membership of OPEC because it could not agree to the production cut, he added.

The agreement will see most OPEC countries cut their production by around 4.6%. Saudi Arabia, the group's biggest producer, will see its output decline by almost 500,000 barrels a day.

The agreement hinges on the cooperation of major non-OPEC producers, who must also cut their production by a combined 600,000 barrels a day. Al-Sada, who is also OPEC's president, said that Russia had agreed to slash its production by 300,000 barrels a day.

The idea is that a production cut will help boost crude prices, which have already risen from $26 per barrel in February.

The meeting, which was held in Vienna, caps months of fraught negotiations that pitted the cartel's de-facto leader Saudi Arabia against its regional rival Iran.

Iran's production level was a key sticking point in negotiations. Tehran had insisted on keeping its production near 4 million barrels a day, which is the amount it was pumping before sanctions were imposed.

The agreement reached Wednesday allows Iran to ramp up production by 90,000 barrels a day to just below 3.8 million barrels a day. That's a daily boost of 1 million barrels over its 2015 average.

Libya and Nigeria have also been granted an exemption from the cut. Both countries had seen their production drop because of of armed conflict.

Related: It's OPEC vs. Trump on oil

In September, producers achieved a breakthrough and preliminarily agreed to trim output for the first time since 2008.

The tentative agreement sent crude soaring above $50 a barrel -- but the lack of agreement on final details caused investors to worry that the deal may fall through.

Al-Sada as asked during a press conference to address whether OPEC was still a vital organization.

"OPEC is still OPEC," he said. "Today's unity is a very explicit sign about the position of OPEC."</s>VIENNA -- OPEC ministers agreed Wednesday to cut crude-oil output, scrapping a strategy to squeeze U.S. competition through high supply that had backfired by gutting prices and draining the cartel's own economies.

It was the first agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries cartel to reduce output since 2008.

The reduction of 1.2 million barrels a day is significant, leaving OPEC's daily output at 32.5 million barrels. And OPEC President Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada said non-OPEC nations are expected to pare an additional 600,000 barrels a day off their production.

"The economics of this deal made so much sense for everybody," Jeff Currie, head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., said on Bloomberg TV. "All the parties involved should view this as successful."

The combined cut will result, at least in the short term, in somewhat more pricey oil -- and, by extension, gasoline, heating and electricity.

The price for Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, jumped 8.3 percent, or $3.86, to $50.24 on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery rose $4.21, or 9.3 percent, to $49.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The average price for a gallon of gasoline nationally rose 2 cents Wednesday to $2.15, up from a $2.04 a year ago, according to auto club AAA. In Arkansas, gasoline cost $1.91 a gallon Wednesday, up from $1.87 a year ago.

In the longer term, analysts say it's unlikely that oil will return to the highs of around $100 a barrel last seen two years ago. That's partly because President-elect Donald Trump has promised to free up more oil drilling in the U.S., which would increase global supply. Demand is also not recovering as the world economy sags.

Calling the agreement "a historic moment," Al-Sada said Wednesday's move "will definitely balance the market and help [in] reducing the stock overhang."

Al-Sada said the OPEC cutback is to take effect Jan. 1, with consultations planned on the exact timing of the non-OPEC reductions. Russia alone is committed to taking 300,000 barrels a day off the market. A barrel of oil contains 42 gallons.

With the production cut, OPEC will not only benefit from gaining more dollars per barrel, but it can also lay claim once again to playing a part in influencing world prices.

And analysts said OPEC's tentative alliance with Russia and other non-OPEC nations may give it -- and them -- additional clout in future competition for market share with U.S. producers, which are sure to return in increasing numbers if crude prices move upward.

Wednesday's decision was a departure from years of infighting among members refusing to give up their market share and a resulting series of inconclusive meetings.

In another reflection of newfound discipline within the cartel, Al-Sada said Indonesia's membership had been suspended after it refused to accept its share of proposed output cuts, reducing the number of OPEC countries to 13.

Part of the focus after Wednesday's decision is how well it holds. OPEC gave up assigning quotas in part because members have ignored them in their quest for petrodollars.

But officials were displaying new confidence. In comments addressed to people who question his organization's relevance, Al-Sada said its decision "means the weight of OPEC and the resiliency of OPEC is still there and it will continue to be there."

"Today's unity is a very explicit sign about the position of OPEC," he said.

Meetings to turn the planned non-OPEC cuts into reality are planned next month in Doha, Qatar. From Moscow, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak confirmed his country's readiness to pare 300,000 barrels from its output, adding that it would happen gradually "within a short period of time based on technical capacity."

Al-Sada said the OPEC cutbacks are in effect for six months with the option of renewal after a review by a five-nation committee set up to monitor compliance.

Still, analysts suggested price upswings would be relatively moderate -- and the fallout minimal, at least for the United States. Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said oil should rise to an average $53 a barrel next year.

For the U.S. economy, that's "a sweet spot ... a high-enough price to spur investment in the energy industry but not enough to seriously drain purchasing power" of consumers, he said.

"The losers are Europe and Japan -- oil-importing regions of the world" with barely growing economies, said Guatieri.

Some of the best performers in U.S. stock markets Wednesday were those hardest hit by the downturn in oil prices that started in mid-2014 and accelerated five months later when OPEC declined to reduce output. California Resources Corp. and Oasis Petroleum Inc. were among the day's biggest gainers, posting advances of more than 25 percent each. Continental Resources Inc., whose majority owner Harold Hamm predicted as far back as 2014 that OPEC would crack before U.S. shale drillers, surged 25 percent.

"Assuming OPEC makes good on an apparent production-cut deal, U.S. oil production growth is all but guaranteed to return in 2017," said Joseph Triepke, founder of Infill Thinking, a Dallas-based oil research firm, and a former analyst at Citadel LLC's Surveyor Capital unit. "All U.S. [shale] plays will benefit, but none more than the Permian, where we estimate as many as 150 rigs could be reactivated next year if the OPEC deal holds."

Shares of rig operators and the companies that help explorers fracture and perform other technical tasks involved in pumping crude from the ground jumped the most in seven years, mirroring the gains for oil producers buoyed by the OPEC deal.

While an OPEC cut would be encouraging, investors should avoid "sharp recovery hype" and be selective, oil-field services analyst Matt Marietta told clients in a research note Wednesday.

"We reiterate our view that structurally oversupplied crude markets will take more time to balance," wrote Marietta, a Stephens Inc. analyst in Houston. "The math suggests an ongoing imbalance is likely to persist well into 2017, even with an OPEC cut, and no U.S. growth."

One of the biggest hurdles to Wednesday's deal had been a rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose struggle for dominance in the Mideast is also playing out in OPEC.

The Saudis had long been hesitant to shoulder the lion's share of a cut, while Iran had resisted reducing its own production. It argued that it has yet to recover its output levels hit by years of sanctions and that the onus was on the desert kingdom to pare the most.

Reflecting their compromise, documents from the meeting showed the Saudis committed to chopping 486,000 barrels off the 10.544 million barrels they were pumping as of October. Iran's quota was set at 3.797 million barrels a day, down 90,000 barrels from October.

All other members cut as well, ranging from tiny Gabon's 9,000-barrel reduction to an Iraqi drop of a daily 210,000 barrels. Nonmember Russia was producing over 11 million barrels a day in October.

Information for this article was contributed by George Jahn, Kiyoko Metzler, Paul Wiseman and Vladimir Isachenkov of The Associated Press and by Joe Carroll, Alex Nussbaum, Alix Steel, Mark Shenk and David Wethe of Bloomberg News.</s>The first oil supply cut decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) since 2008 led to further gains in the stocks of domestic upstream oil and gas companies apart from companies providing offshore oil & gas drilling service and equipment suppliers for offshore drilling.



 Sustaining the overnight gains made on Wednesday after OPEC agreed to cut crude oil production from January 1, international crude oil futures traded around $50 per barrel at 7 pm on Thursday with WTI crude futures priced at $50.40 per barrel while Brent crude futures priced at 50.47 per barrel.



 The current crude oil futures price is almost double of $26.05 per barrel that it had slumped to on February 11, 2016 leading to a negative impact on economies of oil producing countries worldwide like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Brazil, Norway



 The gainers among the upstream oil and gas companies on Thursday included GAIL (3.51 per cent), Oil India (2.25 per cent), ONGC (1.11 per cent) while Cairn India fell 1.05 per cent on profit taking after the stock price rose in early trade. Companies providing offshore service, equipments for oil & gas drilling have gained more in the past two sessions.



 On Thursday the gainers were Aban Offshore (4.01 per cent), GOL Offshore (8.82 per cent), Dolphin Offshore (6.19 per cent), Hindustan Oil Exploration Company(5.03 per cent) while Alphageo India closed 0.40 per cent lower as there was some profit taking on the counter towards the close of the trade for the day. Speciality chemicals maker for oil drilling Vikas WSP rose 7.43 per cent.



 However, shares of oil refining and marketing companies had mixed results with HPCL down 4.90 per cent, BPCL down 2.20 per cent per cent and Indian Oil Corporation was down 2.60 per cent while Reliance Industries was up 0.45 per cent.



 OPEC member countries for the first time in 8 years agreed to curtail crude oil production by 1.2 million barrel per day to 32.5 million barrels per day (mn b/d) from January 1, 2017 to balance global crude supply and demand.



 OPEC’s agreement is apparently contingent on a reduction in supply by major non-OPEC producers to the extent of 0.6 mn b/d, including 0.3 mn b/d from Russia; OPEC is scheduled to meet key non-OPEC countries on December 9.



 After an initial rise in the crude oil price in the past two days, analysts expect the rice recovery not sustainable beyond USD 60-65 per barrel due to subsequent price driven growth in US production, rising production from Brazil, recovery in production in Canada and commissioning of the giant Kashagan field in Kazakhstan, said a report by Kotak Institutional Equities Research.



 The current crude oil futures price of $50 per barrel is almost double of $26.05 per barrel that it had gradually slumped to on February 11, leading to a negative impact on economies heavily dependent on oil production such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Venezuela, Brazil and Norway.



 Tarun Lakhotia, analyst, Kotak Institutional Equities Research said, “Operating costs (including levies) of the US shale companies and international oil majors have fallen significantly over the past two years, driven by deflation in costs and improvement in efficiencies. In our view, low operating costs, quicker time-to-market of US shale oil and resilient production from other non-OPEC countries will restrain OPEC’s ability to manage oil prices.”



 “The likely stabilisation and subsequent price-driven growth in US production over the next 12 months and the recent increase in deployment of rigs in the US shale regions will translate into higher production in about five-to-six months,” Lakhotia said.



 “The proposed production cut by OPEC includes 0.49 mn b/d by Saudi Arabia, 0.21 mn b/d by Iraq, 0.14 mn b/d by UAE, 0.13 mn b/d by Kuwait and 0.1 mn b/d by Venezuela,” an analyst from Kotak Institutional Equities Research said.



 Iran, Libya and Nigeria are likely to be exempted from production cuts, given country-specific issues of past sanctions, civil unrest and militancy.



 Also OPEC’s agreement is apparently contingent on a reduction in supply by major non-OPEC producers to the extent of 0.6 mn b/d, including 0.3 mn b/d from Russia; OPEC is scheduled to meet key non-OPEC countries on December 9.



 raviranjan@mydigitalfc.com</s>VIENNA (Reuters) - OPEC has agreed its first oil output cuts since 2008 after Saudi Arabia accepted "a big hit" on its production and dropped its demand on arch-rival Iran to slash output, pushing up crude prices by around 10 percent.

Fast-growing producer Iraq also agreed to curtail its booming output, while non-OPEC Russia will join output cuts for the first time in 15 years to help the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries prop up oil prices.

"OPEC has proved to the skeptics that it is not dead. The move will speed up market rebalancing and erosion of the global oil glut," said OPEC watcher Amrita Sen from consultancy Energy Aspects.

The cut did not come without a casualty, however. Indonesia, the producer group's only East Asian member, said it would suspend its membership after rejoining only this year as it was not willing to comply with the output cuts sought.

Following news of the deal, the price for Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, surged to settle up nearly 9 percent. They eased slightly in early Asian trading on concerns that other producers, especially U.S. shale drillers, could fill any gap.

The agreement came despite huge political hurdles. Iran and Russia are effectively fighting two proxy wars against Saudi Arabia, in Yemen and Syria, and many skeptics had said the countries would struggle to find a compromise.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said ahead of the meeting that the kingdom was prepared to accept "a big hit" on production to get a deal done.

"I think it is a good day for the oil markets, it is a good day for the industry and ... it should be a good day for the global economy. I think it will be a boost to global economic growth," he told reporters after the decision.

Some observers were more cautious.

"This is an agreement to cap production levels, not export levels," British bank Barclays said in a note. "The outcome is consistent with ... what OPEC production levels were expected to be in 2017, irrespective of the deal reached."

Despite Wednesday's price surge, oil prices are still only at levels last seen in September and October, when plans for a cut were first announced, and are at less than half their levels of mid-2014, when the glut started.

OPEC produces a third of global oil, or around 33.6 million barrels per day, and under the Wednesday deal it would reduce output by around 1.2 million bpd from January 2017.

That would take its output to January 2016 levels, when prices fell to over 10 year lows.

Saudi Arabia will take the lion's share of cuts by reducing output by almost 0.5 million bpd to 10.06 million bpd. Its Gulf OPEC allies - the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar - would cut by a total 0.3 million bpd.

Iraq, which had insisted on higher output quotas to fund its fight against Islamic State militants, unexpectedly agreed to reduce production - by 0.2 million bpd.

Iran was allowed to boost production slightly from its October level - a victory for Tehran, which has long argued it needs to regain market share lost under Western sanctions.

Falih had long insisted OPEC would limit output only if non-OPEC producers contributed.

OPEC president Qatar said non-OPEC producers had agreed to reduce output by a further 0.6 million bpd, of which Russia would contribute some 0.3 million.

Russia had previously resisted participating and instead pushed production to new records in recent months.

"Russia will gradually cut output in the first half of 2017 by up to 300,000 barrels per day, on a tight schedule as technical capabilities allow," Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said from Moscow.

Novak, who spoke an hour after OPEC announced its deal, did not say from which output levels Russia would cut.

Non-OPEC Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have said they might also cut.

"With the deal agreed to in principle and country level quotas established, focus will now shift to implementation," Goldman Sachs said in a note to clients.

OPEC will hold talks with non-OPEC producers on Dec. 9. The organization will also have its next meeting on May 25 to monitor the deal and could extend it for six months, Qatar said.

Indonesia, the cartel's only Asian member, said it would suspend its membership as it wasn't willing to cut its production as agreed by OPEC. "The meeting... requested for Indonesia to cut around 5 percent of its production or around 37,000 barrels per day... As a net oil importing country, a cut to production capacity would not benefit Indonesia," the country's Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry said in a statement. Indonesia has a patchy OPEC membership history. After first joining in 1962, it left in 2009 as dwindling production meant that Southeast Asia's most populous country had become a net importer of crude oil, which is against OPEC's statute for full membership. Despite this, it re-joined OPEC in early 2016. Indonesia's suspension will not affect OPEC's overall reduction as its share of cuts will be redistributed among other members.</s>OPEC, which for decades controlled global oil production, appeared to be losing its grip ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled meeting in Vienna to freeze or reduce output and prop up prices.

Some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have been trying to convince the rest to cut production to boost oil prices, which are half of what they were in 2014, currently hovering in the mid-$40 a barrel, the result of an oil glut.

Current price levels are good news for airlines, truckers and drivers but bad news for alternative energy startups, shale oil and gas operations, and economies dependent on oil prices to fund their budgets.

Any price increase, however, could come at the cost of market share as Asian buyers, who use a third of the world’s supply, look elsewhere, Reuters reported.

"For us, the current price levels look to be appropriate for both sides [buyers and producers]," said Eiichiro Kitahara, executive officer at Japanese refinery TonenGeneral Sekiyu.

"Our company aims to avoid depending highly on certain suppliers, and we may seek new [supply] opportunities."

Russia already has become China’s top oil supplier, displacing Saudi Arabia, Reuters said.

Algeria has been working hard to convince Iran, which is trying to make up for years of sanctions to cut its oil income, and Russia, a nonmember of the oil cartel invited to participate, to agree to a production deal, Bloomberg reported. Russia, however, isn’t even planning to attend Wednesday’s meeting.

“At current prices we won’t be able to survive two years [if prices don’t rise],” Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa told Bloomberg. “There are some billions in foreign reserves but they risk to melt like snow in eight to 10 months if the price of the barrel stays as it is.”

OPEC hasn’t been able to hold the line on production for years. Its last successful deal to cut production was eight years ago. The target Wednesday is to cut output by 1.2 million barrels a day from October levels, to bring production down to 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day.

The oil ministers could impose production quotas on each member nation and cut deals for exemptions to keep participants happy enough to sign on. They also could fail to reach any deal, sending oil prices plummeting to less than $40 a barrel, or just postpone a decision.

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar said Tuesday his country isn’t willing to cut production while Saudi Arabia, which currently is producing a record 10.6 million barrels a day, has indicated it won’t agree to cuts unless all OPEC members, except Libya and Nigeria, cooperate, Bloomberg reported. Venezuela, where the economic situation has reached catastrophic proportions, and Iraq, which is battling the Islamic State group, also have asked for special consideration.

Platts reported Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani agreed to coordinate with each other. Putin said last month he would like to see production levels frozen rather than cut. Saudi Arabia has been slow to come to the idea of a production cut, given its vast cash reserves. The position has created pressure on other producers without the wherewithal to ride out low prices. The nationalism and anti-colonial sentiments that led to OPEC’s birth in the 1960s have waned, and the cartel has been unable to mount a successful campaign since the 1970s, Oilprice.com noted. "What I hear is kind of crazy. The fear in town is it's Doha redux. Everybody's worst nightmare," Helima Croft, head of global commodities strategy at RBC, told CNBC, referring to the meeting in Doha, Qatar, in April that failed to produce a freeze agreement when Saudi Arabia and Iran started feuding. "Once again, it seems [Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] has decided Iranian participation in a cut is mandated. If he sticks to that position, it doesn't lift off [Wednesday]. I think a cut was never on the table for Iran. Is this just a hard-line tactic? Are they trying to get the maximum concession?" Croft said. Iran reportedly is demanding Saudi production be cut back to 9.5 million barrels a day, but the Saudis are balking. Reaching a deal may not be the answer, however. "If prices are pushed up towards $60 we will see within nine months a strong response from U.S. shale production putting oil in the market," Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told Reuters.</s>VIENNA — Breaking with years of inaction, OPEC agreed Wednesday to cut its oil output for the first time since 2008. The move effectively scraps its strategy of trying to squeeze U.S. competition through high supply — a strategy that backfired by lowering prices and draining the cartel's own economies.

The reduction of 1.2 million barrels a day is significant, leaving OPEC's daily output at 32.5 million barrels. And OPEC President Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada said non-OPEC nations are expected to pare an additional 600,000 barrels a day off their production.

The combined cut will result, at least in the short term, in somewhat-more-pricey oil — and, by extension, gasoline, heating and electricity. The international benchmark for crude jumped 8.3 percent, or $3.86, to $50.24 on Wednesday.

In the longer term, however, analysts say it's highly unlikely that oil will return to the highs of around $100 a barrel last seen two years ago. That's partly due to the fact that President-elect Donald Trump has promised to free up more oil drilling in the U.S., which would increase global supply. Demand is also not recovering as the world economy sags.

Playing tribute to "a historic moment," Al-Sada said Wednesday's move "will definitely balance the market and help (in) reducing the stock overhang."

Al-Sada said the OPEC cutback is to take effect Jan. 1, with consultations planned on the exact timing of the non-OPEC reductions. Russia alone is committed to taking 300,000 barrels a day off the market.

With the production cut, OPEC will not only benefit from gaining more dollars per barrel; it can also lay claim once again to playing a part in influencing world prices.

And its tentative alliance with Russia and other non-OPEC nations may give it — and them — more clout in future competition for market share with U.S. producers, which are sure to return in increasing numbers if crude prices move upward.

Wednesday's decision was a departure from years of infighting among members refusing to give up their market share and a resulting series of inconclusive meetings.

In another reflection of new-found discipline within the cartel, Al-Sada said Indonesia's membership had been suspended after it refused to accept its share of proposed output cuts, reducing the number of OPEC countries to 13.

Part of the focus following Wednesday's decision is how well it holds. OPEC gave up assigning quotas in part because members have ignored them in their quest for petrodollars.

But officials were displaying new confidence. In comments addressed to nay-sayers about his organization's relevance, Al-Sada said its decision "means the weight of OPEC and the resiliency of OPEC is still there and it will continue to be there."

"Today's unity is a very explicit sign about the position of OPEC," he added.

Meetings to turn the planned non-OPEC cuts into reality are planned next month in Doha. From Moscow, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak confirmed his country's readiness to pare 300,000 barrels from its output, adding that it would happen gradually "within a short period of time based on technical capacity."

Al-Sada said the OPEC cutbacks are in effect for six months with the option of renewal after a review by a five-nation committee set up to monitor compliance.

Still, analysts suggested price upswings would be relatively moderate — and the fallout minimal, at least for the United States. Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said oil should rise to an average $53 a barrel next year.

For the U.S. economy, that's "a sweet spot ... a high-enough price to spur investment in the energy industry but not enough to seriously drain purchasing power" of consumers, he said.

"The losers are Europe and Japan — oil-importing regions of the world" with barely growing ecomonies, said Guatieri.

One of the biggest hurdles to Wednesday's deal had been a rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose struggle for dominance in the Mideast is also playing out in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The Saudis had long been hesitant to shoulder the lion's share of a cut, while Iran had resisted reducing its own production. It argued that it has yet to recover its output levels hit by years of sanctions and that the onus was on the desert kingdom to pare back the most.

Reflecting their compromise, documents from the meeting showed the Saudis committed to chopping 486,000 barrels off the 10.544 million barrels they were pumping as of October. Iran's quota was set at 3.797 million barrels a day, down 90,000 barrels from October.

All other members cut as well, ranging from tiny Gabon's 9,000 barrel reduction to an Iraqi drop of a daily 210,000 barrels. Non-member Russia was producing over 11 million barrels a day in October.</s>WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - With traders reacting to news of OPEC's agreement to cut production, the price of crude oil moved sharply higher during trading on Wednesday.



Crude oil for January delivery spiked $4.21 to $49.44 a barrel after plummeting $1.85 to $45.23 a barrel in the previous session.



The substantial increase by the price of crude oil came as OPEC ministers revealed the cartel has agreed to reduce production by about 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels a day.



The agreement marks the first time since 2008 that OPEC has agreed to curtail production and comes as a supply glut has weighed on prices.



OPEC said the agreement, which will be effective from January 1, 2017, will accelerate the ongoing drawdown of the stock overhang and bring the oil market rebalancing forward.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX</s>OIL ministers at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) agreed to cut production of crude for the first time in eight years on Wednesday, a move that may produce ripple effects from global financial markets to the US economy, and all the way to the corner gas station.

“I think it is a good day for the oil markets, it is a good day for the industry and…it should be a good day for the global economy,” Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih told reporters, after the announcement was made at Opec headquarters in Vienna, Austria. “I think, it will be a boost to global economic growth.”

Under the plan, the cartel will cut production by roughly 1.2 million barrels a day.

Opec’s dominant member, Saudi Arabia, will absorb the biggest hit by cutting about 500,000 barrels a day. The deal also extends to some non-Opec countries, such as Russia, which is slated to reduce production by 300,000 barrels a day.

But the agreement is a tenuous one. The long-standing rivalry between the Saudis and Iran, a country looking to boost its revenue from oil after years of international sanctions, nearly derailed Wednesday’s meeting and the agreement with non-Opec countries won’t be formally addressed until a meeting on

 December 9.

Analysts at Barclays expressed skepticism about the deal, sending out a report, titled “Show Me the Cuts”, and describing its outlook as “too good

 to be true.” Nonetheless, oil prices surged within moments of initial reports of a deal being struck.

At the close of trading on Wednesday, the price of Brent crude—the benchmark price for global oil—was up $4.09, finishing at $50.47 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate —the recognized price for most North American producers—closed at $49.44 a barrel, a one-day jump of $4.21.

The last time Opec countries cut production was in December 2008, when the price of Brent crude was trading at $40 a barrel. The projected cut comes as oil prices have experienced a sustained two-year slide.

In November 2014 Opec surprised energy analysts by keeping production levels high, instead of cutting supplies to bolster prices.

Prices plunged from more than $100 a barrel in the summer of 2014 to as low as $26 a barrel in February. The price drop has been good news for motorists, as gasoline prices have remained low, but it proved disastrous for many Opec countries that depend on oil revenue to keep their economies afloat.

North American producers also suffered, reversing the many of the gains they made in shale-oil formations in recent years, resulting in an estimated 200,000 layoffs and dozens of bankruptcies that affected the larger US economy.

“I would argue one of the reasons we have reported very sluggish economic growth over the last two years is because of the drop in the investment in oil and gas companies,” said Bernard Weinstein, associate director of the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University. In California, for example, the number of active oil rigs plummeted from 44 in the fall of 2014 to just four earlier this year, according to the oil-field services company Baker Hughes. That’s the lowest number for the state since Baker Hughes began compiling figures in 1992.

The November rig count for the state stands at six. Opec controls about one-third of the world’s oil supply, and a number of energy analysts on Wednesday said they expect prices to reach the $55-to-$60-per- barrel range in fairly short order.

“Most of the shale guys would be very happy at 55-60,” Weinstein said. That’s because during the downturn, many US producers proved very resilient, finding cheaper and more efficient ways to extract oil and gas. MCT
OPEC agrees to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day. Key non-OPEC producers most notably Russia have also agreed to cut their production. Oil futures have risen by 9%.