Oil contracts rebounded Friday after Russia slashed its crude output in response to a Western price cap that was imposed on exports after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brent, the international benchmark, and its US counterpart WTI, which had been down earlier in the day, jumped more than two percent after Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said production would be cut by 500,000 barrels per day, or five percent of output, in March.
They eased back later but were still up more than one percent.
“Crude prices reacted positively to the news, considering that so far Russian oil production has been relatively resilient,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
“The move … aims to improve oil revenues by narrowing the discount of Russian oil to Brent.”
