Oil Prices Rise After Saudi Arabia Cuts Output

U.S. crude oil prices firmed above $81 as supply fears dominated global energy markets toward the end of the trading week, driven by news from Saudi Arabia and Russia.

A man, mask-clad due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past a damaged silo at the Saudi Aramco oil facility in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah, on Nov. 24, 2020. Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. crude oil prices firmed above $81 as supply fears dominated global energy markets toward the end of the trading week, driven by news from Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The Ministry of Energy in Riyadh announced extending a voluntary production cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) into September. The energy powerhouse implemented the reduction in July to establish a price floor of $70, and the decrease was poised to run through the end of August. But the Saudi Kingdom confirmed on Aug. 3 that it would be extended for another month and the move “can be extended or extended and deepened.”