Oil post largest weekly gain since June after OPEC meet

VIENNA (AA) - Crude oil prices Friday 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% weekly gain, after opening Monday at $60.73.

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

Brent crude soared 3.6% and WTI jumped 4.15% Wednesday 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 Friday in Vienna.

However, Brent gained an additional 1.55% Friday and WTI added 1.2% 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.