Oil prices climb amid supply cuts

NEW YORK, march 7 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices bounced on Thursday as the market gained support from ongoing supply cuts by major oil producers.

Saudi Arabia's continued output discipline and Venezuela's struggles under U.S. sanctions led crude oil production in the Organization of Petroleum the Exporting Countries (OPEC) lower to 30.80 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, according to an SP Global Platts survey released on Thursday.

The figure is a 60,000 bpd drop from January and is OPEC's lowest output level since march 2015, according to the London-based data provider.

On Monday, Russia said it would speed up its output cuts this month. A survey from Reuters on Friday showed that OPEC members pumped 30.68 million barrels per day (bpd) in February, down 300,000 bpd from the previous month.

Last December, OPEC and other major oil producers, including Russia, pledged to cut production by 1.2 million bpd in order to prop up prices, effective from this January.

The West Texas Intermediate for April delivery rose 0.44 dollar to settle at 56.66 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery increased 0.31 dollar to close at 66.30 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem