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Oil prices soar after OPEC announces February output cut
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 12 14 06World oil prices surged on Thursday after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries signalled it would slash crude production by 500,000 barrels per day from February next year.
OPEC is to lower its production from Febrary 1, 2007, Algerian Energy Minister Chakib Khelil said on Thursday during a meeting of the cartel in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in January, leapt 85 cents to 62.22 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the official opening of the US market. It earlier touched as high as 62.72 dollars.
In London, Brent North Sea crude for January delivery jumped 81 cents to 62.14 dollars in electronic trading, after surging as high as 62.81 dollars.
Dealers said prices were supported also by Wednesday's news that US energy inventories had fallen across the board last week.
OPEC, whose members produce about one third of global oil supplies, had decided in October to cut their output by 1.2 million barrels per day to 26.3 million from November 1 in a move aimed at boosting prices.
Analysts have warned that a further cut to the production target risks sending oil prices sharply higher in the coming months, which would worsen an already cloudy outlook for the global economy next year.
Meanwhile, Angola has won the backing of existing OPEC members to join the organisation, Qatari Energy Minister Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah said Thursday after the cartel's meeting.
The second-biggest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa will become a member on March 1, he added.
AFP 14 1345 GMT 12 06
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