ALGIERS, Algeria — OPEC’s unexpected agreement to trim production shows the cartel still has the resolve — and even desperation — to try to guide energy markets higher. But don’t expect triple-digit oil prices anytime soon.

Ministers from the oil cartel reached a preliminary deal Wednesday in Algeria to cut production for the first time since the global financial crisis eight years ago. The size of the cut was modest — to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels per day from just below current levels of around 33.2 million barrels per day.

Though limited, the decision came as something of a surprise — expectations were that once again the regional rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran would create a stalemate. Oil prices shot up by around 5 percent in the wake of the cut.

On Thursday, markets stabilized, with the benchmark New York rate 23 cents lower at $46.82 a barrel and the international standard, Brent, 34 cents lower at $48.87.

Any failure to enact the agreement could lead to a renewed drop. And that risk remains — the deal, after all, is not done yet.

Output levels for individual countries will have to be finalized at an OPEC meeting in Vienna in November. OPEC agreed that Nigeria, Iran and Libya would be exempted from making big cuts as their economies are already stymied by conflicts or sanctions.

“We see this more as an act of desperation,” Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht said. “Saudi Arabia appears willing to bear the main brunt of the burden.”

Whether or not the OPEC deal sticks, analysts said this didn’t herald a return to the era when OPEC could basically control the oil market through its production levels, not least because non-OPEC countries have a bigger stake than before. Four of the world’s top 5 producers aren’t even part of OPEC.