Investing.com - Oil futures settled higher on Friday, rebounding from the prior session's near 5%-drop as traders continued to digest the latest extension of production cuts from OPEC and some non-OPEC members.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude July contract tacked on 90 cents, or around 1.9%, to end at $49.80 a barrel by close of trade Friday. It touched a two-week low of $48.18 earlier in the session.
For the week, prices of the U.S. benchmark pared their losses to less than 2%, after sinking roughly 4.8% on Thursday.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for July delivery added 69 cents to settle at $52.15 a barrel by close of trade, after hitting a daily trough of $50.71, a level not seen since May 12.
For the week, London-traded Brent futures recorded a loss of $1.70, or roughly 2.7%.
Oil prices tumbled on Thursday as the extension of output curbs by OPEC and other producing countries disappointed investors who had hoped for larger cuts, leading to the biggest daily percentage slide in crude prices since early March.
At Thursday's meeting in Vienna, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers agreed to extend supply cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter of 2018.
While OPEC's move had been widely expected, some oil market investors had hoped producers would agree to longer or deeper cuts to drain a global glut of crude supplies.
The cartel next meets in November.
So far, the production-cut agreement has had little impact on global inventory levels due to rising supply from producers not participating in the accord, such as Libya and Nigeria, and a relentless increase in U.S. shale oil output.
Data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed on Friday that U.S. drillers last week added rigs for the 19th week in a row, the second-longest such streak on record, implying that further gains in domestic production are ahead.
The U.S. rig count rose by 2 to 722, extending an 11-month drilling recovery to the highest level since April 2015.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for June gained 3.3 cents, or about 2.1% to end at $1.642 on Friday. It closed down around 0.6% for the week.
June heating oil added 1.2 cents to finish at $1.563 a gallon. For the week, the fuel declined roughly 1.2%.
Natural gas futures for July delivery rose 3.5 cents to settle at $3.310 per million British thermal units, up 1.1% for the session but about 0.6% lower for the week.
In the week ahead, oil traders will eye fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products on Wednesday and Thursday to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
The reports come out one day later than usual due to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. on Monday.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of these and other significant events likely to affect the markets.
Monday, May 29
Markets in the U.S. will remain closed for Memorial Day.
Wednesday, May 31
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is to publish its weekly report on U.S. oil supplies.
Thursday, June 1
The U.S. Energy Information Administration is to release weekly data on oil and gasoline stockpiles.
The U.S. government is also set to produce a weekly report on natural gas supplies in storage.
Friday, June 2
Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count.