OPEC Sets 500,000-Barrel Oil Output Cut, to Start in February

PEC oil ministers said Thursday they will cut production by a half-million barrels a day starting Feb. 1, a 1.9% reduction, Bloomberg reported.

Crude oil futures jumped more than $1 on the New York Mercantile Exchange to close at $62.51 a barrel Thursday, Bloomberg said.

OPEC ministers meeting in Nigeria added the 500,000 barrel production cut to a previous 1.2 million-barrel per day cut agreed to in October, Bloomberg said.