Oil Climbs After OPEC+ Agree Record Output Cut

Oil prices rose on Monday after major producers finally agreed their biggest-ever output cut, but gains were capped amid concern that it will not be enough to head off oversupply with the coronavirus pandemic hammering demand.
After four days of wrangling, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to cut output by 9.7 million barrels per day in May and June to support oil prices, representing around 10% of global supply, Reuters reported.
Brent crude futures rose 16 cents, or 0.5%, to $31.64 a barrel after opening at a session high of $33.99. US West Texas Intermediate (crude futures) were up 37 cents, or 1.6%, to $23.13 a barrel, after hitting a high of $24.74.
“What this deal does is enable the global oil industry and the national economies and other industries that depend upon it to avoid a very deep crisis,” said IHS Markit Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin. 
“This restrains the build-up of inventories, which will reduce the pressure on prices when normality returns – whenever that is.”
Leaders of the world’s top three oil producers, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman, all supported the OPEC+ deal to cut global crude output, the Kremlin said on Sunday. Trump praised the deal, saying it would save jobs in the US energy industry.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates volunteered to make cuts even deeper than those agreed, which would effectively bring the OPEC+ supply down by 12.5 million bpd from current supply levels, the Saudi energy minister said.