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Oil prices soar on producer output cuts

BANGKOK (AP) - Oil prices soared more than 5% on Monday after Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers said they will cut production by 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year.

U.S. benchmark crude oil rose $3.91 to $79.58 per barrel, or 5.1%, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose $1.30 to $75.67 per barrel on Friday, ahead of the weekend meeting where members of the so-called OPEC+ group of oil exporting countries decided on the cuts, which are in addition to a reduction announced last October that infuriated the Biden administration.

Brent crude, the pricing basis for international oils, gained $4.13 to $84.02 per barrel, or 5.2%.

The cuts immediately pushed prices higher and were expected to boost gas prices, adding to strains in many countries where high fuel prices are a heavy burden. Higher oil prices also will complicate the efforts by central banks to rein in inflation.

“This will create both political waves across Europe and even higher general inflation in the USA, leading to renewed pressure on the Federal Reserve to keep hiking rates aggressively,” Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities, said in a report.

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 and New York Dow indexes at a securities firm Monday, April 3, 2023, in Tokyo. Oil prices soared more than 5% after Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers said they will cut production by 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year. Shares in Asia were mixed on Monday and the dollar rose against the Japanese yen. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People walk in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Monday, April 3, 2023, in Tokyo. Oil prices soared more than 5% after Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers said they will cut production by 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year. Shares in Asia were mixed on Monday and the dollar rose against the Japanese yen. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm Monday, April 3, 2023, in Tokyo. Oil prices soared more than 5% after Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers said they will cut production by 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year. Shares in Asia were mixed on Monday and the dollar rose against the Japanese yen. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)