WTI and Brent Crude Advance on Friday

Crude oil futures rose more than 5% for the week as a higher forecast for crude demand helped boost prices for a fifth consecutive session, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August West Texas Intermediate crude rose 46 cents, or 1%, to settle at $46.54 a barrel. It rose roughly 5.2% for the week.

On the London ICE Futures Exchange, September Brent crude climbed 49 cents, or 1%, to end trading at $48.91 a barrel. For the week, prices were up by nearly 4.7%.

Friday’s oil gains followed a mixed report from the International Energy Agency in which the agency boosted its 2017 demand growth forecast.

The Baker Hughes report released on Friday revealed a gain of two new rigs for a total of 765. The rig count figures arrived before Monday’s Energy Information Administration release of the monthly U.S. drilling productivity report, which will include forecasts on August shale oil output.

Meanwhile, August natural gas edged up by 1.9 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $2.98 per million British thermal units. It finished roughly 4.1% higher for the week.