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Oil Stays Strong After OPEC Deal to Cut Production


FILE - A ship is docked at a Al-Basra oil platform in the Middle East Gulf, Sept. 21, 2014.
FILE - A ship is docked at a Al-Basra oil platform in the Middle East Gulf, Sept. 21, 2014.

Oil prices rose again Thursday, building on momentum from an agreement by OPEC to cut production for the first time since 2008.

The decision sent oil prices up by about 10 percent on Wednesday and gave an overall boost in energy stocks. Thursday's gains were more modest with prices rising to about $50 per barrel.

OPEC President Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada addresses a news conference after a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 30, 2016.
OPEC President Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada addresses a news conference after a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna, Austria, Nov. 30, 2016.

Iran's oil minister said OPEC will cut production by 1.2 million barrels, or about 1 percent of the world's global output, down to 32.5 million.

Before Wednesday's meeting in Vienna, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said OPEC would ask non-members to also cut production.

Russia, a non-OPEC member, agreed to cut its oil output by 300,000 barrels a day.

OPEC says it would like to see global oil prices between $55 and $60 a barrel — a level it says will help revive oil dependent economies that have suffered from two years of prices that frequently fell to less than $50 a barrel.

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