Oil Flirts With $59 as Russia, OPEC Said to Outline Deal on Cuts

Framework agreement could extend curbs until end of 2018
WTI closed 1.6% higher after touching new two-year high

The silhouettes of electric oil pump jacks are seen at dusk in the oil fields surrounding Midland, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017. Nationwide gross oil refinery inputs will rise above 17 million barrels a day before the year ends, according to Energy Aspects, even amid a busy maintenance season and interruptions at plants in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that were clobbered by Hurricane Harvey in the third quarter.Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

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By Robert Tuttle

November 24, 2017 at 5:34 AM UTC

Updated on

November 24, 2017 at 8:20 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Oil briefly surpassed $59 a barrel in New York for the first time in two years as OPEC and Russia were said to have crafted the outline of a deal to extend their oil production cuts.

Futures closed 1.6 percent higher Friday, just 10 cents below a fresh two-year high. After days of talks, Moscow and Riyadh now agree on the need to announce an additional period of cuts at the Nov. 30 meeting, although both sides are still hammering out crucial details, according to people involved in the conversations. Moscow had been hesitating over the need for an extension because the current deal doesn’t expire until the end of March.