AKIPRESS.COM - Oil may climb to $60 a barrel for the first time in almost a year and a half after Russia and other unaffiliated nations joined an OPEC pledge to reduce production and Saudi Arabia surprised the market by saying it will cut more than previously agreed, Bloomberg reports.

Non-OPEC nations said Saturday they will reduce output by 558,000 barrels a day, adding to a Nov. 30 OPEC commitment to cut 1.2 million starting in January. Brent crude has surged more than 20 percent since OPEC announced its first cut in eight years. Prices jumped as much as 6.6 percent to $57.89 a barrel in early Monday trading.

The agreement is the first between OPEC and non-OPEC producers since 2001. It underscores the resolve to end a market-share war that exacerbated a global oversupply and caused prices to slump by 75 percent. The OPEC and non-OPEC plan encompasses countries that pump 60 percent of the world’s oil but excludes producers such as the U.S. and Canada, which have benefited from the boom in shale output, as well as China, Norway and Brazil.

“This is an unprecedented event,” said Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group in Wellington, Florida. “The 558,000 barrel decline from non-OPEC together with the OPEC agreement will total 1.8 million barrels a day of cuts, which is about 2 percent of global production. This is enough to have an impact.”