Crude oil futures finished higher on Friday as traders rode the wave of OPEC’s success in striking a production cut designed to shrink supplies, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January West Texas Intermediate crude added 62 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $51.68 a barrel. For the week, prices were nearly 12.2% higher—the largest weekly percentage gain since the week ending January 2, 2009.
On London’s ICE Futures Exchange, February Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 52 cents, or 1%, to settle at $54.46 a barrel, with prices based on the front month contracts ending nearly 12.9% higher for the week.
Both Brent and WTI crude settled at their highest levels since July 2015.
On Wednesday, OPEC reached an agreement to scale back production to a ceiling of 32.5 million barrels a day. The deal is expected to take effect in January and participating oil nations will reassess in six months with an option to extend the accord for another six months.
“Even with the Vienna OPEC meeting concluded, OPEC news will still largely drive the next 6 months of trading,” said Troy Vincent, oil analyst at ClipperData.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January natural gas fell 6.9 cents, or 2%, to settle at $3.436 per million British thermal units. Prices rose 7.3% for the week.