SEOUL: Oil prices held steady on Friday, with Brent crude hovering near $60 a barrel, buoyed by comments from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince backing the extension of OPEC-led output cuts.
International benchmark Brent crude futures were up 3 cents, or 0.05 percent, at $59.33 a barrel at 0648 GMT.
Brent is now a third above 2017 lows touched in June and at levels last seen in mid-2015.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.61 per barrel, down 3 cents, or 0.06 percent, from their last close, but up by a quarter from their June 2017 low.
WTI has been weaker relative to Brent as rising U.S. output has capped prices in the United States.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said Thursday that the kingdom would support extending the output cut in a bid to stabilize oil demand and supply.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers including Russia have pledged to curb their production by around 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of March to drain a global supply glut. OPEC is expected to discuss extending that agreement at a meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.
“If OPEC and their non-OPEC partners can agree to extend their production curtailments through 2018, then we estimate the oil market will remain in modest under-supply until 2019,” U.S. Investment bank Jefferies said.
Oil prices have hovered near their highest for this year in recent weeks amid signs of a tightening market, talk of an extension of the cuts and worries over conflict in Iraq.
Although the rising likelihood that OPEC will extend its output cuts raises expectations for a balanced market, U.S. crude production remains an issue for OPEC as it strives to clear a global overhang.
U.S. crude production C-OUT-EIA rose by 1.1 million bpd to 9.5 million bpd in the week ended Oct. 20, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
