We all like surprises

Brent prompt futures contract hiked to 54 $/b on early Tuesday, up by about 5%, as OPEC surprised market participants by reducing February output. The twist came from Saudi Arabia who decided to unilaterally cut production by 1 mb/d in February while allowing Russia and Kazakhstan to marginally increase their production for February and March. Other countries will rollover production cuts, until March when the group is meeting again.