Investing.com - Crude oil prices extended an overnight rally into Asia on Friday with U.S. rig count figures later in the day to set the tone.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for December delivery rose 0.48% to $54.80 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 0.15% to $60.48 a barrel.
Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday as ongoing Opec and non-Opec output cuts, fuelled expectations that global oil market rebalancing was underway.
Saudi Arabia continued to cut oil output as inventories declined significantly in October, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said Thursday while compliance with the Opec-led accord to curb output had been "excellent."
Falih also expressed a desire to continue with output curbs, saying that Opec should work to ensure stockpiles continue to fall beyond March. Opec is slated to next meet at its headquarters in Vienna on Nov. 30.
In May, Opec producers agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March, but stuck to production cuts of 1.2 million bpd agreed in November last year.
Russian remained in compliance with oil output cuts despite increasing output to 10.93 million bpd in October from 10.91 million bpd in September, official data showed Thursday.
The U.S., however, continued to ramp up weekly production to 9.55 million bpd, up 46,000 from a week ago, while exports rose to an all-time high of 2.13 million barrels per day, the Energy Information Agency (EIA) said Wednesday.
The rise in production was offset by a steeper-than-expected draw in U.S. crude inventories, which fell 2.4 million barrels in the week ended Oct. 27 while gasoline inventories decline by 1.8 million barrels.
Traders are expected closely monitor oil rig data slated for Friday for an insight into U.S. oil production and demand.