Singapore — Oil prices shot to their highest levels since mid-2015 on Monday after oil cartel Opec and other producers reached their first deal since 2001 to jointly reduce output in order to rein in oversupply and prop up markets. Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, soared to $57.89 a barrel in overnight trading between Sunday and Monday, the highest level since July 2015. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also hit a July 2015 high of $54.51 a barrel. Brent and WTI eased to $56.58 and $53.92 respectively by 4.53am GMT, but were both still up more than 4% from their last settlements. With the deal signed after almost a year of arguing within Opec and mistrust in the willingness of non-Opec Russia to participate, focus is switching to compliance of the agreement. "We believe that the observation of the Opec-11 and non-Opec 11 production cuts is required to sustainably support ... oil prices to our [first half of 2017] WTI price forecast of $55 a barrel," Gol...
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