Crude prices jump 6% as OPEC, allies deepen cuts
Crude oil prices Friday posted its largest percentage weekly gain since last June after OPEC and its allies agreed to make deeper cuts to production levels.
Brent crude closed at $64.37, a 6% weekly gain, after opening Monday at $60.73.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) ended the week at $59.13, a 6.6% increase for the week, after beginning Monday at $55.47.
Brent crude soared 3.6% and WTI jumped 4.15% Wednesday with hopes OPEC and its allies would curb production by an additional 500,000 barrels per day (bpd).
That amount was confirmed by OPEC and non-OPEC countries, dubbed as OPEC , at the conclusion of a meeting Friday in Vienna.
However, Brent gained an additional 1.55% Friday and WTI added 1.2% after Saudi Arabia said it would make a voluntary cut of 400,000 bpd to its output.
The agreement will carry the collective production curb of OPEC from 1.2 million bpd to 2.1 million bpd starting Jan. 1 to the end of March.
The 14-member OPEC and 10-member non-OPEC will meet March 5-6 in Vienna to discuss the outlook of the global oil market and examine compliance levels of oil producing countries in the group.
