CRUDE OIL PRICES (JANUARY 25)
Crude oil prices were up on Friday (January 25), compared to the previous close.
The price of Brent oil was $61.86 up from $60.81, and US WTI crude was $53.84 from $52.35.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its Russia-led allies agreed on December 7 to slash oil production by more than the market had expected.
They will curb output from January by 0.8 million barrels per day versus October levels while non-OPEC allies contribute an additional 0.4 million bpd of cuts, in a move to be reviewed at a meeting in April.
OPEC, Russia, and several other producers began to reduce supply in January 2017 in an attempt to erase a glut. They have extended the pact until December 2018.
Oil prices have more than halved in the past two years after Saudi Arabia raised output steeply in an attempt to drive higher-cost producers such as US shale firms out of the market.
The plunge in oil to below $50 per barrel - and sometimes even below $30 - from as high as $115 in mid-2014 has helped reduce growth in US shale output.
(NRT Digital Media)
