Oil post largest weekly gain since June after OPEC meet

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Crude oil prices 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 percent weekly gain, after opening at $60.73.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) ended the week at $59.13, a 6.6 percent increase for the week, after beginning at $55.47.

Brent crude soared 3.6 percent and WTI jumped 4.15 percent on Dec. 4 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 Dec. 6 in Vienna.

However, Brent gained an additional 1.55 percent on Dec. 6 and WTI added 1.2 percent 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.