BREAKING: OPEC reaches agreement to cut oil production to 32.5 million barrels/day

OPEC has reached a deal amongst all 14 member countries to cut oil production to 32.5 million barrels a day for the first time since 2008, according to several media reports.

Multiple media reports, citing unmanned sources which cannot be verified by CNBC, said member countries of the oil-producing cartel meeting at its headquarters in Vienna had secured a cut in its oil production from 33.8 million barrels a day (b/d) to 32.5 million b/d in an effort to prop up prices. Oil prices have fallen by more than half since mid-2014 due to global oversupply and booming U.S. shale production.

Oil prices soared more than 8 percent to above $50 a barrel on Wednesday morning and rallied to five-week highs with investor optimism over the deal.

Balancing act

An oil production cut to reduce global oversupply has not been put into action in almost a decade. However, following two consecutive years of low oil prices; the pressure on OPEC to act had intensified.

In September’s Algeria meeting, the 14-member cartel outlined a deal which would restrict output and, after being implemented in Vienna, should theoretically lift the economic pain of low oil prices on countries reliant on producing the commodity.

The balancing act for OPEC on Wednesday had been to agree on individual production levels for each country whilst remaining vigilant to non-OPEC exporters looking to seize a greater share of the market.

Source: CNBC