Crude oil prices rose to above USD 79 per barrel on Friday after jumping almost 3% to USD 80.3 following Russia’s announcement of cutting its output by 500,000 barrels a day in March, approximately 5% of total production. The unexpected move is a retaliation against the European ban on seaborne imports and price caps for Russian oil products. The US WTI benchmark rose by about 9% last week as concerns about tight global supplies come at a time when demand in China is set to rebound.