Investing.com – Succeeding in a “most difficult” situation,” Saudi Arabia got its brethren within OPEC and non-member allies led by Russia to agree to a production cut of 1.2 million barrels per day that the market rewarded on Friday with the best weekly gain in 10 for oil.
At settlement, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up $1.64, or 2.2%, at $52.61 per barrel. For the week, it gained 3.3%, the biggest advance since the week ended Sept. 23.
Brent, the global benchmark for crude, was up by $1.48, or 2.5%, at $61.54 by 2:55 PM ET (19:55 GMT), after racing to $63.70 earlier.
What wasn’t immediately clear was how Riyadh would deal with the resultant political fallout, if any, with President Donald Trump, who had been haranguing the kingdom for weeks now with tweets demanding that OPEC’s oil be kept flowing without disruption and at low prices to help the U.S. economy.
Many had expected the Saudis to play ball with the president, who had been protecting Riyadh from the threat of U.S. sanctions after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom the CIA believes was killed at the urging of Saudi Crown Price Mohammed bin Salman. Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih received praise from his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak for being able “to find a solution in the most difficult situation”.
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