2019.12.0609:11:00UTC+00Oil Hovers Near Two-month High

Oil prices rose slightly on Friday to hover near two-month highs after Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on further output cuts.

Benchmark Brent crude rose 0.25 percent to $63.55 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate oil futures were up 0.2 percent at $58.54.

The Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and a 10-nation coalition led by Russia called OPEC+ have agreed to deeper oil production cuts in order to prevent oversupply. The new deal will apply for the first three months of 2020.

The oil exporting countries have recommended to deepen the cuts by 500,000 bpd to existing cuts of 1.2 million bpd. A cut of 1.7 million bpd would amount to 1.7 percent of global supply.

Saudi Arabia was more interested in reducing output as the Arab country needed to anchor oil prices just before the IPO of the state-run oil company Saudi Aramco.

Existing supply curbs of 1.2 million barrels per day, which prevents excess supply, was set to expire in March.

Thursday's meeting will be followed by a meeting today when Russia and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, will meet to consider production curbs.