ASX energy shares on watch after oil prices surge higher

It looks set to be a great day of trade for Australian energy producers such as Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT), Oil Search Ltd (ASX: OSH), Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) and Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) after oil prices surged higher overnight.

This follows the release of a surprise announcement by the world’s second largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia.

What happened?

Oil prices surged higher overnight after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly announced that it would cut its production by approximately 1 million barrels a day.

According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price is up 5.1% to US$50.06 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price has stormed 5.1% higher to US$53.70 a barrel. This is the first time that the WTI crude oil price has been…