Investing.com - Crude oil closed at $51.63, up 0.57% on Friday. Oil prices fluctuated throughout the session, two days after energy policy ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) settled on a new production cutting pact at a meeting in Austria. Brent crude oil, the global benchmark, was down by about 1% to $53.45 in London trading.
Overall, Brent Oiland Crude Oil pries were up signficantly during the day, more than 12% since Wednesday’s deal, Later, prices climbed.
Oil analysts at J.P. Morgan Chase and other industry analysts on Wall Street say the OPEC cuts, if they are actually undertaken, a questionable proposition to many observers, might hold prices between $55 and $60 a barrel—a level OPEC members have said they are seeking.
There was word on the street that some of the less affluent oil producing nations, like Venezuala, and even Angola, in South America and Africa, respectively, may break with the oil production pact.
The U.S. is expected to move forward with expansive plans for oil and gas production. At an event in Cincinnati, Ohio, last night, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated campaign promises that his new administration will clear regulatory hurdles for oil, gas, natural gas and shale producers, come Jan. 20, 2017, his inauguration day in Washington D.C. New production in the U.S. will lower prices for American consumers, and reduce reliance on foreign oil.