Crude oil made back some of its losses from the past week on Monday, posting a 7 percent gain largely due to the news that Saudi Arabia is deepening production cuts. U.S. light, sweet crude for January delivery gained $2.90 to settle at $43.71 a barrel, bouncing back from a 25 percent drop last week – its deepest weekly rout in 18 years.

London Brent crude gained about 10 percent.

The world’s largest oil supplier, Saudi Arabia, told Asian refiners that it would cut as much as 10 percent of contracted volumes in January versus a 5 percent cut in December. European supplies were also cut by the oil giant in an effort to reach its target price of $75 a barrel.

The next OPEC meeting, scheduled for Dec. 17 in Algeria, is expected to bring more production cuts in an effort to prop up prices during the economic downturn.

Crude oil suffered six consecutive losing sessions before today, and dropped the most last week since 1991.

Oil Prices Rebound From Recent Lows