Opec Move Sends Oil Prices Soaring

Oil prices roared 5 percent higher to a new nine-year high Friday, topping $28 a barrel for the first time since 1991 and the Gulf War. The gain came after OPEC removed virtually all doubt it will extend its agreement on lowered production for several more months.

Frigid weather in the northeastern United States also contributed to a sharp rise in crude as well as gasoline, heating oil and natural gas futures.

Crude climbed as high as $28.10 a barrel, the highest since Jan. 16, 1991, before the Allied military strikes on Iraq that brought about an end to the Gulf War.

Intermediate crude for February delivery oil settled up $1.33 at $28.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange - jumping 16 percent for the week and surpassing the previous nine-year high reached in November.

Meeting in Vienna, the market monitoring committee of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to strongly recommend that the 10-month-old production cutbacks be continued beyond their scheduled March 31 expiration.