Investing.com - U.S. oil futures held steady close to multi-month highs on Friday, as a decline in U.S. oil stocks countered news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to place a ceiling on oil production at their meeting on Thursday in Vienna.
U.S. crude futures for July delivery were steady at $49.18 a barrel, near recent seven-month highs of 50.21.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, the August Brent contract edged up 0.08% to $50.08 a barrel, not far last week’s six-month high of 50.51.
Oil prices strengthened after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said on Thursday that crude oil inventories fell by 1.366 million barrels in the week ended May 27. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock decline of 2.49 million barrels.
The news came after OPEC President Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada pointed to the fact that non-OPEC production was expected to further decline by 740,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2016, after hitting its peak in 2015.
He noted that OPEC expects global demand to grow by 1.2 million b/d in 2016.
Rather than taking action to curb production levels, Al-Sada limited his comments to stating that OPEC would “closely monitor developments in the coming months, and if necessary recommend to Member Countries to meet again and suggest further measures according to prevailing market conditions.”