A cartel of oil producers have agreed to cut production to drive up prices. 

The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, including Russia (OPEC+), will cut oil output by 2 million barrels a day, equal to 2 per cent of global supply. 

The move is predicted to add further drag to the slowing global economy.

At about US$90 a barrel, crude oil is well below levels reached soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but is still higher than at any point between 2015 and early 2022. 

Higher oil prices are made more painful by the fact that the US dollar is relatively strong, as many countries must buy their oil in the US currency. 

“We need to pre-empt a crash in the oil market because of the slowdown,” United Arab Emirates Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said, referring to a price plunge that occurred in the second half of 2008, when oil collapsed to US$30 a barrel during a global financial crisis.

The White House has accused OPEC+ of “aligning” with Russia and damaging the global economy.