Oil futures finished sharply higher on Friday, but booked a weekly loss, as investors focused on a decline in rigs drilling for oil against next week’s OPEC meeting to assess compliance to an agreement to check global production. As Market Watch writes in the article Oil books 1.1% gain, but logs slight weekly drop, as OPEC meeting looms, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in September gained 55 cents, or 1.1%, to $49.58 a barrel. For the week, WTI slipped 0.3%, weighed by Thursday’s sharp selloff. October Brent crude on London’s ICE Futures exchange climbed 41 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $52.42 a barrel. Brent ended the week down about 0.4%.
Oil prices added to gains after a report showed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil fell by 1 to 765 this week, while those drilling for gas declined by 3 to 189, bringing the overall oil-and-gas count to 954 for the week, according to Baker Hughes.
Crude had already been on an uptrend after employment data showed that the U.S. economy added 209,000 new jobs in July, significantly better than the average estimate of economists surveyed by MarketWatch for 180,000. Healthy U.S. labor-market readings imply healthy oil demand, which can help lift prices. A strong gusher of U.S. oil the past three years has weighed on prices and the government is estimating domestic crude output will average 9.3 million barrels a day this year and hit a record of nearly 10 million in 2018.
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The stubborn oil glut has dented the national coffers of many oil suppliers. Even Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter and one of the lowest-cost producers, had to adopt austerity measures to counter the effects of low prices. This year’s production caps led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries were the biggest reaction to the glut. More recently, Saudi Arabia and some smaller producers have started to moderate their exports.
One of the implications of OPEC’s moves is falling exports into China. In June, China’s intake of Middle Eastern crude accounted for approximately one-third of the country’s total oil imports. The figure has been close to one-half in prior years, said the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
The two-day OPEC meeting next week will include deliberation of to-date compliance levels to the output caps. Cartel members haven't always followed through with their pledges in the past, and if U.S. production continues on a strong upward trend the appeal to ignore to the caps would only get stronger, said analysts.
Among refined products, September reformulated gasoline blendstock rose 0.9% to $1.6463 a gallon, the contract added less than 0.1% on the week. September heating oil added almost a penny, or 0.6%, to close at $1.6486 a gallon, with a weekly climb of 0.5%. Meanwhile, natural gas for September delivery dropped 2.6 cents, or 0.9%, to $2.7740 per million British thermal units. For the week, natural gas futures declined 5.7%, markings its third weekly drop in a row.
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