The price for oil produced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries shot up by 2.45 dollars Thursday, as oil and gasoline stocks in the United States were seen to be lower than expected.
One barrel (159 litres) of OPEC-produced crude stood at 42.95 dollars Thursday, the Vienna-based cartel announced Friday.
Oil prices continued to rise on Wednesday's news that US crude oil stocks had fallen for the second week and that gasoline stocks were also down, commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch at Commerzbank said in Frankfurt.
This development was related to OPEC's recent production cuts, Fritsch said: "One can make the interpretation that it is slowly starting to show an effect."
OPEC calculates a basket price based on 12 brands produced by its members, reported dpa.
...