By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- Oil prices rose Friday, benefiting from the decision of a group of top oil producers to only gradually increase output to the global market, ensuring supply remains tight.
By 8:30 AM ET (1330 GMT), U.S. crude futures were up 1.2% at $79.71 a barrel, while Brent futures rose 0.8% to $81.17.
U.S. Gasoline RBOB Futures were down 0.3% at $2.2862 a gallon.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies including Russia, a group called OPEC+, agreed Thursday to stick to the previously agreed upon plan to add 400,000 barrels per day of supply in December.
This group cited an uncertain demand outlook, given continuous Covid-19 outbreaks, as their rationale for rebuffing calls from the United States, the largest consumer in the world, among others, to increase output and derail the elevated price levels.
Such caution may well be warranted given coronavirus infections are hitting record levels in many countries across Europe, including Russia, as winter takes hold.
Attention now turns to the U.S. response, given the rising political pressure on the Biden administration as retail gasoline prices climb close to $4 a gallon.
The White House said after the OPEC+ meeting that it would consider a full range of tools at its disposal to guarantee access to affordable energy, raising the possibility that the United States could opt to release oil from its strategic petroleum reserves.
The official U.S. employment report, released earlier Friday, showed a larger-than-forecast payrolls gain, up 531,000 last month after an upwardly revised 312,000 gain in September. This suggests greater economic activity going forward, and thus more demand for energy.
Although crude recently soared to multi-year records - the Nymex contract hit a seven-high year last week and the Brent contract climbed to a three-year peak - it fell earlier in the week after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported a bigger-than-expected build in U.S. crude oil supplies.
As a consequence, Brent is on track for a near 4% decline this week, the second straight lower week, while Nymex is heading for a decline this week of nearly 5%.
Later in the session sees the release of the Baker Hughes weekly rig count as well as CFTC positioning data.