Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, cut production more than traders and analysts had estimated last month as crude prices plunged, figures from the oil minister show.

The kingdom pumped 8.493 million barrels of oil a day in November, Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday in an interview in Poznan, Poland. That's 287,000 barrels a day less than estimated by the International Energy Agency, and close to Saudi's OPEC quota of 8.477 million barrels. Oil prices rallied as much as 5.5 percent to $45.93 a barrel.

"The Saudis might have been impatient with the market's skepticism, so they've decided some transparency is needed," said Mike Wittner, head of oil market research at Societe Generale SA in London.