Oil Rally Intensifies; WTI Soars Nearly 12% Higher

Oil's advance accelerated late Friday morning. West Texas Intermediate crude jumped nearly 12%. Prices found support from comments late Thursday from the United Arabia Emirates' energy minister who said that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is willing to cooperate on possible production cuts. The market is taking the comments from the UAE minister "seriously because the UAE is doing an about face," said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group. The country was "saying a month ago a cut was going to be over their dead body basically," said Flynn. "Well, maybe hell froze over." March West Texas Intermediate crude jumped $3.13, or 11.9%, to $29.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, where it was poised to log a weekly loss of about 5.3% on the New York Mercantile Exchange.