Today, January 5, Saudi Arabia shocked OPEC+ with a voluntary 1-million-barrel-per-day output cut. The announcement came after OPEC and Russia agreed to allow a 75,000 barrels a day increase in total production from Russia and Kazakhstan in February and March.
On the news U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate climbed 5.00% to $50 a barrel and international benchmark Brent gained 5.05% to $53.67 a barrel.
Oil stocks soared with ExxonMobil (XOM) climbing 4.82% at the close, Chevron (CVX) up 2.70%, and BP (BP) soaring 7.44%. U.S. oil shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) gained 6.94%.
In December OPEC+ agreed to ease its crude oil production cuts by 500,000 barrels per day starting in January, bringing the total cut to 7.2 barrels a day.
The next OPEC+ meeting is now set for March 4 to set production limits for April.
