Oil prices rose on Friday after Russia’s deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Novak, said that his country would cut production in March by 500,000 barrels a day — or about 5 per cent of its output.
Russia is the world’s third-largest producer of oil, and the announcement by Novak, who is the Kremlin’s point person on energy, immediately sent prices upward before they eased slightly. Futures for Brent crude, the international benchmark, were 2.5 per cent higher, at $86.33 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate rose similarly, briefly rising above $80 a barrel.
Novak portrayed the move as one designed to hit back at the western price cap of $60 a barrel imposed on Russian oil in December.
