Oil futures ended a strong week on an upbeat note Friday, with global benchmark Brent crude ending above the sentiment – important $US70-a-barrel level as traders worried about more signs of tightening global supplies.
Failing to stop prices from moving higher was news from oil-field services firm Baker Hughes that the number of US oil rigs rose by 15 last week to 831. The rise came after six consecutive weeks of declines and was one of the strongest weekly gains this year.
Normally that sort of news would have been a negative but analysts reckon OPEC has cut its output a bit more thane expected, while US crude production seems to have stalled around 1.21 million to 12.2 million after the strong gains seen in 2018.
June Brent futures rose 94 cents, or 1.4%, to close at $US70.34 a barrel in Europe, its highest close since November 8 last year.
Brent briefly traded above $US70 on Thursday before pulling back from its session high (and briefly the week before) but sustained that level on Friday.
That left Brent up 4.1% for the week, its second consecutive positive week.
In New York the benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude futures for May delivery jumped 98 cents, or 1.6%, to finish at $US63.08 a barrel.
That left it up 4.9% for the week, its fifth straight weekly gain.
Year to date Brent is up 30.7% in the year to date, while WTI has surged nearly 39%.
Also helping oil shake early weakness was the solid March jobs report for the US showing 196,000 new jobs were created last month and a slowing in the annual rate of wage growth to 3.2% from 3.4%.
While US oil output remains at a record level the Energy Information Administration is forecasting production grow at a slower rate this year than in 2018 than it had previously forecast.
The EIA last month said it expects 2019 US crude production of 12.3 million barrels a day against its previous estimate of 12. 4 million barrels.
