Investing.com - Oil prices reached a new, one-year high by mid-day on Monday, as last week’s rally from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreement to cut production continued apace U.S. crude for January delivery this morning gained 20 cents, or 0.4%, to $51.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). The price had been as high as $52.42 a barrel for Crude Oil, the best intraday price since July 2015. Brent Oil, the global oil price benchmark, gained 44 cents, or 0.8%, to $54.90 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe market.
But oil prices settled down for the day. Crude oil settled at 51.08, down 1.24%. Brent oil was down for the day, 54.24%, 0.40%.
The market contineus to gain as some investors anticipate that OPE is more likely to keep this pledge than in past pacts. OPE members are famed for surpassing production plans. Huge inventories of oil today are most likely, analysts said, to encourage the oilmen to keep their promises.
“They only must be on their best behavior for a few months to get the market into a daily supply deficit,” Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group in Chicago, said in a note to investors.