Oil futures settle higher as OPEC+ agrees to a gradual increase in production at the start of the year

Oil futures finished higher on Thursday, even as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, announced that they’ve reached an agreement to pare current production cuts of 7.7 million barrels per day to 7.2 million barrels per day beginning in January. That essentially raises their collective production by 500,000 barrels a day. The group said it will hold monthly OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meetings starting in January to "assess market conditions and decide on further production adjustments for the following month, with further monthly adjustments being no more than 0.5 mb/d." January West Texas Intermediate crude rose 36 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $45.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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