U.S. oil futures settle higher as OPEC+ agrees to a 2 million-barrel output cut

Oil futures finished higher on Wednesday, with U.S. prices marking another settlement at their highest settlement since mid-September. Prices found support from a 2 million-barrel production cut by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, as well as weekly declines in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate supplies reported by the Energy Information Administration. The cut "compensates the lack of oil demand growth from China during 2022," said Rob Thummel, portfolio manager at Tortoise. However, oil prices have "rebounded by 7% in the first few days of the fourth quarter as the current OPEC+ production cut has been priced into oil prices already," he said. November WTI crude rose $1.24, or 1.4%, to settle at $87.76 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest front-month finish since Sept. 14, FactSet data show.