Oil hits 11-month high after Saudi Arabia pledges voluntary output cut
TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices rose on Wednesday to their highest since February 2020 after Saudi Arabia agreed to reduce output more than expected in a meeting with allied producers, while industry figures showed U.S. crude stockpiles were down last week.
Brent crude rose as much as nearly 1% to $54.09 a barrel, the highest since Feb. 26, 2020. It was at $53.87 a barrel at 0536 GMT after jumping 4.9% on Tuesday.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures reached $50.24 a barrel, also the highest since Feb. 26, before slipping to $50. The contract on Tuesday closed up 4.6%.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, agreed on Tuesday to make additional, voluntary oil output cuts of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in February and March, after a meeting with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers that form the group known as OPEC+.
