NEW YORK, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices jumped on Friday after major producers agreed to extend most oil output cuts into April.
The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery added 2.26 U.S. dollars to settle at 66.09 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, marking the highest finish since April 2019.
Brent crude for May delivery increased 2.62 dollars to close at 69.36 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Front-month contract prices saw their highest settlement since May 2019, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
"OPEC+ created shockwaves on the oil market yesterday when it decided to leave production unchanged even in April. Only Russia and Kazakhstan were granted permission to increase output by a total of 150,000 barrels per day," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Friday.
OPEC+'s decision on Thursday was somewhat a surprise move, as the market had been expecting production to be stepped up by 500,000 barrels per day.
Oil prices also garnered support as Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, said it would extend its voluntary oil output cut of 1 million barrels per day, and would decide in coming months when to gradually phase it out.
For the week, WTI crude rose 7.5 percent, while Brent crude advanced 7.7 percent. Enditem