OPEC’s first production cuts in eight years are intended to shrink the world’s bloated oil stockpiles back to a normal level, paving the way for prices to rise to more than $60 a barrel. Bigger volumes of oil in storage mean lower prices, but the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ “landmark” agreement Wednesday to cut production will accelerate the decline of global stockpiles, Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said in a Bloomberg TV interview Thursday. Within nine months, OPEC’s deal should bring inventories closer to normal levels and potentially lift crude prices as high as $70 a barrel, said Venezuelan Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino. OPEC confounded skeptics by agreeing in Vienna on Wednesday to fully implement supply cuts outlined in Algiers two months ago. The group will cut production by about 1.2 million barrels a day to 32.5 million and also secured a pledge from Russia to reduce its output […]