Oil Jumps as OPEC Calls for More Cuts

Ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries were clamoring to make a new round of oil production cuts even deeper than what has already been promised, and two key players said more than 1 million barrels a day should be removed from the glutted market. Cuts that big would be almost double what six of the OPEC members have pledged, as the ministers struggle to lift prices from 12-year lows. Heading into a meeting that formally opens today in Vienna, the ministers gave no details about how much any particular producer should take off the market, but oil traders liked the basic idea and responded by pushing prices higher. Most of the OPEC members already have pledged new cuts that would equal 620,000 barrels a day, beginning July 1. Non-OPEC members, including Mexico, Russia and Oman, have chipped in to raise the pledge to 823,000 barrels. Crude oil for August delivery rose 87 cents, or 6.4%, to $14.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.