Oil prices surge on deal between OPEC and non-OPEC members

According to media reports, OPEC and non-OPEC members finally signed an oil cut deal on December, 10 at a meeting held in Vienna. The deal is important in that it is the first deal between the two parties to cut oil output since 2001 and it is believed it will help stabilize the oil market, the reports said.

The reports revealed that following OPEC’s agreement on November 30, to cut oil output by 1.2 million barrels/day as of January 1, non-OPEC members also agreed to cut oil production by 558,000 barrels/day in Saturday’s meeting. Accordingly, Russia signed the deal to cut production by 300,000 barrels/day while Oman accepted to curb production by 45,000 barrels/day. Kazakhstan will reportedly try to decrease production by 20,000 barrels/day as of 2017.

Also, many non-OPEC members including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Malaysia, Mexico, Sudan and South Sudan expressed their commitments to cut oil output in line with the terms of the agreement.

Following the deal between OPEC and non-OPEC members on Saturday, Brent crude reportedly climbed to $57.89 per barrel while WTI crude reached $54.51 on Sunday evening, both the highest levels since June 2015.