Oil Surges to Best Week Since October on Russian Supply Cuts

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak says the country’s production cut is voluntary and a response to western price caps. Still, analysts have been predicting some output losses following the recent sanctions announcements, according to Daniel Ghali, a commodity strategist at TD Securities.

“It is possible that Russia is portraying these output losses as a decision to cut their oil production when they might have occurred regardless,” Ghali said.

Despite the cuts, Russia’s partners in the OPEC+ coalition signaled they won’t boost output to fill in for the reductions.

Prices:

• West Texas Intermediate for March delivery climbed $1.66 to settle at $79.72 a barrel in New York.
• Brent for April settlement rose $1.89 to $86.39 a barrel.