Oil Firms Up, Traders Warn Against Cheating
World oil markets surged late on Wednesday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) oil ministers agreed in Vienna to freeze their production quotas for six months.
On Londons International Petroleum Exchange (IPE), benchmark Brent futures for August closed a hefty 34 cents a barrel up at $18.21, a little off from a session high of $18.45 on the back of the Opec news.In New York, Nymexs WTI August futures ended the day 52 cents up at $19.55 a barrel.
Opec secretary-general Rilwanu Lukman said earlier in Vienna the producer group had agreed to freeze its 25.03 million barrels per day ceiling until the end of the year. He said that Opec members agreed to go back on their allocations, but added no threats were made to overproducers