Investing.com – Oil prices settled higher on Friday buoyed by growing expectations that Opec will agree to extend output cuts beyond March 2018 following bullish comments from Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
On the latest York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for December delivery rose by 2.4% to pay back at $53.90 a barrel, during London’s Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 1.75% to trade at $60.35 a barrel.
Crude oil prices settled inside their highest since March as investors received the strongest signal yet that support for prolonged cuts keeps increasing among Opec members after Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters on Thursday the kingdom would support extending output cuts in an effort to eliminate the market of excess supplies.
In May, Opec producers agreed to extend production cuts for nine months until March, but stuck to production cuts of just one.2 million bpd agreed in November during the past year.
The comments, weeks after Russia President Vladimir Putin said he supported the very idea of extending the output-cut agreement through 2018, eased concerns over the potential uptick in global output after Iraq and Peshmerga Kurdish forces decided to a ceasefire, decreasing the chance of supply disruptions.
In the U.S., meanwhile, investors mulled over data showing how many oil rigs rose, snapping a three consecutive weeks of declines.
Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes said Friday its weekly count of oil rigs operating in the usa rose by 1 to 737.
The weekly rig count is a crucial barometer for your drilling industry and operates as a proxy for oil production and oil services demand.
