The price of oil was on the positive territory on Friday’s session but it traded below the $50 per barrel handle that was immediately breached for the very first time in over six weeks. Investors are currently anticipating the meeting of major oil producers next week.
The market is shifting its attention on reports that oil kingpin Saudi Arabia is working with other major producers to reduce output and draw down supplies, OPEC member Libya and Iraq in particular since they are planning to increase their production.
Looking on oil prices, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures added as much as 7 cents to settle at $46.99 a barrel and global benchmark for oil Brent crude futures gained more than 6 cents to finish at $49.36 a barrel in the midst of thin trading. Technical commodity analyst at Reuters Wang Tao said Brent oil is still aiming to touch the $50 per barrel handle.
Both WTI and Brent rose to their best level since the beginning of June amidst the previous trading session. These benchmarks are pulled up by the released figures suggesting fuel and crude stockpiles in the United Sates sharply declined last week. ANZ noted the influence of the rapid drawdown in U.S. stockpiles this week still lingered on the market.
About 490 million barrels stayed above the five-year average, while the output in the stateside has jumped more than 12 percent to 9.4 million barrels per day (bpd) since mid-2016, regardless of the supply drop.