Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday as traders remained positive about the overall outcome of OPEC’s production cuts, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, January West Texas Intermediate crude added $1, or 2%, to settle at $51.90 a barrel. For the week, prices rose nearly 0.8%.
On the London ICE Futures Exchange, February Brent crude, the global benchmark, added $1.19, or 2.2%, to end trading at $55.21 a barrel. Prices rose about 1.7% for the week.
“Oil prices are rising as it is becoming clear that the [output] cuts are for real,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
The market has seen some signs of planned compliance with the output pact among OPEC members and other producers.
“There will be little evidence of production cuts until mid to late January which we believe will be the next catalyst for the next large move in prices,” Goldman Sachs said in a note.
On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration reported that domestic crude oil production rose by 99,000 barrels a day to 8.796 million barrels a day for the week ending December 9.
Meanwhile, natural gas futures ended lower, with January natural gas down 1.9 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $3.415 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, prices fell by roughly 8.8%.
