Oil on Friday gained for a second straight week as OPEC assured traders that it was committed to culling supplies ahead of a key meeting with allies in Azerbaijan this weekend.
Futures advanced 4.4 percent this week in New York and settled just pennies off a four-month high.
OPEC self-discipline and a surprise reduction in US crude inventories signaled tightening supplies, but concern that a US-China trade dispute will not end soon limited gains at the end of the week.
“The market basically seems to be stalling,” Tradition Energy senior analyst Gene McGillian said in Stamford, Connecticut.
“Concerns that either the delay in the trade negotiations or signs of worries about slowing economic growth that will impact energy demands are limiting the market’s upward movement,” he said.
Crude has risen 29 percent this year as various geopolitical and economic factors diminished concerns about a worldwide glut.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday reported that OPEC’s crude production last month fell to a four-year low.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia announced that it would continue to curb production and US sanctions have isolated two major exporters, Venezuela and Iran.
West Texas Intermediate for delivery next month slipped US$0.09 to close at US$58.52 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent for May settlement declined US$0.07 to close at US$67.16 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract traded at an US$8.34 premium to West Texas Intermediate for the same month.
Meetings scheduled for today and tomorrow in Baku would be the first ministerial gathering of OPEC and allied producers since Saudi Arabian Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid al-Falih stressed the need to continue with the production cuts.
Deliberations by important committees would be followed by a full meeting of cartel leaders in Vienna next month.
OPEC’s monthly report on Thursday slashed forecasts for global oil demand and boosted projections for supplies from non-OPEC countries, particularly in the second half of this year.
As a result, the group indicated that a surplus might emerge in the fourth quarter, even as cutbacks trim the group’s overall production.
As the crisis in Venezuela has deepened, the IEA on Friday issued a pointed reminder that Saudi Arabia and others in OPEC have enough spare crude reserves to make up for a major disruption in the Latin American country.
In other energy trading, wholesale gasoline rose 0.4 percent to US$1.86 per gallon and heating oil slid 0.9 percent to US$1.97 per gallon, while natural gas gave up 2.1 percent to US$2.80 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold rose 0.6 percent to US$1,302.90 per ounce and silver gained 1 percent to US$15.32 per ounce, while copper added 0.5 percent to US$2.91 per pound.
Additional reporting by AP
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