Oil futures finished slightly higher on Friday, with West Texas Intermediate prices marking a fifth-consecutive weekly gain, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
December WTI crude added 22 cents, or 0.14%, to settle at $50.85 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices reflected a gain of about 1% for the week.
December Brent crude, the global benchmark, added 40 cents, or 0.8%, to end trading at $51.78 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. For the week, prices ended about 0.3% lower.
“Inventories will also remain in focus next week, as the market will be looking for any deviation from the draws we have been seeing over the past month, to determine if the market has adjusted and found a little more balance,” said Tim Evans, chief market strategist at Long Leaf Trading Group.
Earlier in the week, government data showed that domestic crude stockpiles marked their sixth weekly fall in seven weeks.
Meanwhile, November natural gas fell 14.8 cents, or 4.7%, to settle at $2.993 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest level since October 4. For the week, natural gas lost 8.9%.