NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices slipped on Tuesday, with two major crude benchmarks finishing the final trading session of the year both about 1 percent lower.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery fell 62 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at 61.06 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery slid 67 cents, or 1 percent, to close at 66 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Despite Tuesday's losses, oil prices posted handsome gains for the year. The U.S. benchmark WTI notched a more than 34 percent increase this year, its strongest annual performance since 2016. The global benchmark Brent advanced nearly 23 percent this year.
Output cut efforts by the world's major oil producers were among the others that contributed to the upswing.
Earlier this month, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies agreed to deepen production cuts by an additional 500,000 barrels a day in the first quarter of 2020, bringing the total cuts to 1.7 million barrels daily.
This additional adjustment will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2020, and is subject to full conformity by every participating country. The OPEC, Russia and other producers have been largely limiting oil output since 2017 in order to boost prices.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for February delivery fell 62 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at 61.06 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery slid 67 cents, or 1 percent, to close at 66 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
Despite Tuesday's losses, oil prices posted handsome gains for the year. The U.S. benchmark WTI notched a more than 34 percent increase this year, its strongest annual performance since 2016. The global benchmark Brent advanced nearly 23 percent this year.
Output cut efforts by the world's major oil producers were among the others that contributed to the upswing.
Earlier this month, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies agreed to deepen production cuts by an additional 500,000 barrels a day in the first quarter of 2020, bringing the total cuts to 1.7 million barrels daily.
This additional adjustment will be effective as of Jan. 1, 2020, and is subject to full conformity by every participating country. The OPEC, Russia and other producers have been largely limiting oil output since 2017 in order to boost prices.
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