Oil prices rally after OPEC meeting

Vienna, June 23 (IANS) Oil prices surged as investors were closely watching the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting.

The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery on Friday rose $3.04 to settle at $68.58 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery was up $2.50 to close at $75.55 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange, Xinhua news agency reported.

The OPEC on Friday announced an agreement to raise oil output which, in accord with non-OPEC producers, had been reduced last year in order to boost prices that had been in free fall mainly due to a supply glut.

Following a ministerial meeting here of the 14-nation cartel, the statement released, however, did not provide any details of the production increases to be allocated among members.

Current OPEC Chairman, the UAE Energy Minister Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, told reporters after the meeting that the increase agreed upon is "a little bit less than 1 million barrels" over OPEC's current output.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including Russia, had put in place 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) cut from January 2017, which helped boost crude prices go over $80 a barrel last month.