Oil prices increase as Saudi Arabia cuts output

Oil prices rose on Thursday following the news that Saudi Arabia is cutting production to implement an agreement to ease global crude supply glut.

Media reports said Saudi Arabia will cut oil output in January by at least 486,000 barrels a day to 10.06 million barrels a day, which means the country abides by the output cut deal reached by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in November last year.

In addition, Crude oil inventories fell by 7.1 million barrels last week to 479.0 million as refineries hiked output, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday.

The West Texas Intermediate for February Delivery added 0.5 U.S. dollars to settle at 53.76 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery increased 0.43 dollars to close at 56.89 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem