OPEC agreed Wednesday to cut oil production by 520,000 barrels a day as part of a broader move to lower its official production targets in a bid to rein in what it terms excess oil on global markets.
The surprise move represents an effort by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies around 40% of the world's oil needs, to exhibit some restraint and seek to return to its own self-imposed production targets. OPEC is estimated to be currently producing around 600,000 barrels a day above those quotas.
OPEC's new official production ceiling is 28.8 million barrels a day from 29.67 million previously.
OPEC President Chakib Khelil said the move amounts to an actual production cut of 520,000 barrels a day from July levels.