Oil prices are soaring after the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries announced a surprise production cut.
On Sunday OPEC announced they are reducing output by over 1 million barrels per day, and the cut amounts to approximately 1 per cent of global oil production.
By Tuesday afternoon, West Texas Intermediate, one of the key North American oil benchmarks was trading at over $80 per barrel. Brent Crude was trading at over $84 per barrel, while Western Canadian Select jumped to over $59 per barrel.
The announcement from OPEC shocked the markets as leaders from the organization had signaled they did not intend to make any output changes.
Recently, The Bank of Canada kept its interest rate steady at 4.5 per cent citing a cool-down in the rate of inflation brought on by lower energy prices. The production cut by OPEC has some economists speculating about the possibility of a $100 barrel of oil by the end of this year.
At the close of markets on Monday, shares of Suncor were up over 5 percent to $44.30 on the day, while shares of CNRL were up over 6 percent to $79.40.
