Investing.com - Oil futures settled higher for the fourth session in a row on Friday, extending a rally to the strongest level in more than three weeks amid optimism that OPEC will extend its production-cut deal beyond June.
On the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for June delivery tacked on 40 cents, or around 0.8%, to settle at $53.53 a barrel by close of trade. The global benchmark hit $53.77 earlier Friday, the most since March 9.
London-traded Brent futures logged a gain of $2.73, or about 5.1%, on the week, the biggest weekly rise in four months.
Elsewhere, the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude May contract inched up 25 cents to end at $50.60 a barrel by close of trade. It touched its highest since March 8 at $50.85 earlier in the session.
For the week, the U.S. benchmark rose $2.63, or 5.2%.
Sentiment in the oil market improved this week in wake of increasingly supportive rhetoric from a number of OPEC nations willing to extend production cuts into the second half of 2017.
OPEC agreed in November last year to curb its output by about 1.2 million barrels per day between January and June. Russia and 10 other non-OPEC producers have agreed to jointly cut by an additional 600,000 barrels per day.
In total, they agreed to reduce output by 1.8 million barrels per day to 32.5 million for the first six months of the year, but so far the move has had little impact on inventory levels.
A joint committee of ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers will meet in late April to present its recommendation on the fate of the pact. A final decision on whether or not to extend the deal beyond June will be taken by the oil cartel on May 25.
Oil has been under pressure in recent weeks amid concern that an ongoing rebound in U.S. shale production and swelling stockpiles in the U.S. could derail efforts by other major producers to rebalance global oil supply and demand.
Oilfield services provider Baker Hughes said late Friday that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 10 last week, the 11th weekly increase in a row. That brought the total count to 662, the most since September 2015.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Wednesday that crude oil inventories increased by 867,000 barrels last week to yet another all-time high of 534.0 million. It was the 12th weekly build in U.S. stockpiles in the past 14 weeks, feeding concerns about a global glut.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for May tacked on 1.9 cents, or about 1.2% to end at $1.703 on Friday. It closed up around 6% for the week.
May heating oil added 1.4 cents to finish at $1.574 a gallon. For the week, the fuel gained roughly 5%.
Natural gas futures for May delivery dipped 0.1 cents to $3.190 per million British thermal units. It posted a weekly gain of around 3.7%.
In the week ahead, market participants will eye fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products on Tuesday and Wednesday to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
Meanwhile, traders will also continue to pay close attention to comments from global oil producers for further evidence that they are complying with their agreement to reduce output this year.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets.
Tuesday, April 4
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is to publish its weekly report on U.S. oil supplies.
Wednesday, April 5
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is to release weekly data on oil and gasoline stockpiles.
Thursday, April 6
The U.S. government is to produce a weekly report on natural gas supplies in storage.
Friday, April 7
Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count.