Oil prices rose today to five-week highs as OPEC+ agreed to cut production by 2MM/bpd, its deepest cuts since the onset of Covid-19. Despite a tight physical market and opposition from the West, the group opted for a large production cut – although the real effects are less meaningful since many member countries have struggled to meet their production quotes. The brunt of these cuts is going to have to be shouldered by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE. Also helping prices was a drop in the use of crude, gasoline, and distillate inventories – with a surprise 1.4MM/bbl draw in crude stocks. “We’re definitely seeing supplies of gasoline and diesel fall pretty dramatically,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. “The mantra we’ve been seeing in recent weeks is the economy is slowing and oil prices were down because of peak demand, but these numbers seem to be holding up a lot better than people would think. “WTI rose $1.24 or 1.4% to close at $87.76. Brent traded up $1.57 or 1.7% to close at $93.37

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