Oil prices saw their biggest annual gain in seven years in 2016 after OPEC joined with Russia and other major producers outside the cartel to curb a supply glut that weighed down the market.
Premium crude prices soared by 52 percent in London and 45 percent in New York -- the largest gains since jumps of over 70 percent in 2009.
Brent North Sea crude ended the year at $56.82 a barrel after having fallen below $30 in January in the culmination of a long and painful collapse for producers that started in 2014.
The price rout was due to a fuel glut attributed to the U.S. shale revolution as well as divisions within OPEC that prevented agreement on curbing production for two years.
But a historic OPEC agreement struck in September is due to start reducing global production on January 1 eventually by about 1.7 million barrels a day.
Russia played a major role in helping to forge the deal, bringing allies Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan into the agreement in a rare joint meeting last month.
The surge in energy prices in 2016 boosted the stocks of energy companies, helping to stoke solid gains in stock exchanges worldwide during the year.
