Oil rebounded as a risk-on appetite is seen coming back into financial markets.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures on Friday closed 0.4 percent higher in New York as US equities rallied.
In the US, oil rigs slid for a third week, according to Baker Hughes data.
Meanwhile, supply from Kurdistan remains uncertain.
WTI’s 50-day moving average rose above the 200-day one, a bullish signal know as a golden cross.
“The stock market is hitting new highs. The risk-on appetite is coming back,” Michael Loewen, a commodities strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto, said by telephone. “The general rhetoric has been OPEC is going to be extending their cuts. We’ve been seeing good demand in the US. At the end of the day, the market is shaping up a lot more firmly than most were anticipating.”
The US oil rig count fell by seven to 736 rigs this week, as Schlumberger Ltd and Baker Hughes, the world’s two biggest oilfield service companies, say North America’s growth engine is slowing.
OPEC is seen willing to extend its deal to reduce output, with the Russian President Vladimir Putin saying if OPEC and allies did agree to an extension, it should run through at least the end of next year.
WTI crude for November delivery, which expired on Friday, rose US$0.18 to settle at US$51.47 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, little changed from last week’s US$51.45 a barrel. Total volume was about 23 percent below the 100-day average.
The more-actively traded December contract added US$0.33 to end the session at US$51.84.
Brent for December settlement climbed US$0.52 to settle at US$57.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, rising 1 percent from last week’s US$57.17.
The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of US$5.91 to December WTI.
“Most investors are more comfortable about getting short in the mid-to-higher US$50s now as opposed to the lower US$50s,” Loewen said. “We’re kind of stuck in this neutral territory where it doesn’t quite make sense to get short yet.”
Geopolitical tensions in Iraq have helped to support oil prices this week.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc said the potential impact of tensions in the Middle East is uncertain.
The flow rate through the pipeline connecting Kurdistan to the Turkish port of Ceyhan remained below normal rates, at about 200,000 barrels a day, a port agent said.
Iraqi forces regained control on Zummar town where Batma and Ain Zala fields are located, the Iraq military said in a statement.
“There was some hope the pipe would be fully allocated this weekend,” Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA Inc in New York, said. “Events have thrown some doubts into that assumption.”
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