Crude oil prices rise to a 9-yr high

NEW YORK, JANUARY 16: The price of US crude oil surged Friday to 28.02 a barrel, a post-Gulf War record, on expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will extend its agreement to cut 4.3 million barrels a day from the world oil market.

OPEC ministers attending this week8217;s ministerial monitoring subcommittee meeting in Vienna agreed to recommend to the full conference on March 27 an extension of the cuts in output agreed to in 1998 and 1999 beyond the March 31 expiration. The decision was mostly expected, but there had been some concern that Caracas would try to block it, because recent floods have left Venezuela in dire economic need. But Venezuela Friday advocated keeping the cuts in place.