December 01, 2016, 15:30 / Business / News

Brent rose to $52.56 per barrel

Oil prices continued to rise on Thursday after jumping 9% to highs since late October, caused by the signing of an agreement to reduce production by OPEC countries.

The price of February futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange rose by $0.79 (1.39%) to $52.56 per barrel by 14.45 Moscow time.

The futures price for WTI oil for January in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time increased by $0.59 (1.19%) to $50.03 per barrel.

On November 30, OPEC countries, taking as a basis the option proposed by Algeria, agreed for the first time in eight years to reduce oil production by 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels per day from January 1, 2017.

Analysts note that after the long-awaited deal, two main questions remain - whether OPEC countries will actually comply with the established production limits, and whether higher oil prices will lead to an increase in US production, which will postpone the market rebalancing indefinitely.

Also on Wednesday, the US Department of Energy reported that oil reserves in the country fell by 884,000 barrels last week against an expected increase of 678,000 barrels.