Investing.com -- Crude futures rose steadily on Friday, halting a midweek slump as OPEC expectedly kept production levels unchanged from their current level at approximately 30 million barrels per day.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for July delivery gained 1.12 or 1.94% to 59.12 a barrel ending a two-session losing streak. U.S. crude futures plunged roughly 5% over the previous two session in advance of Friday's meeting in Vienna.
Texas Long Sweet futures plunged more than 1% ahead of Friday's announcement to a daily-low of $56.86, before reversing course after the world's largest oil cartel decided to keep production levels steady for the second time in six months.
While crude prices are down dramatically from their peak of $115 last summer, they are still up more than 10% from touching down to a 52-week low of $45 a barrel in January. At Friday's meeting Iran oil minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh indicated that he expects crude prices to reach $75 by year's end.
Although the majority of OPEC's smaller nations have advocated for a slash in production output to boost prices, they have been overruled by Saudi Arabia which is looking to undercut U.S. shale producers by depressing prices.
“The reality now is that we cannot have this $100 (a barrel) anymore. This is a fact. We have less value for our barrels,” OPEC secretary general Abdalla Salem el-Badri said at a Friday news conference.
A content Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali al-Naimi told reporters afterward that he was surprised by how amicably the meeting went.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for July delivery rose 1.32 or 2.14% to 63.35 a barrel, ending a two-session skid. Brent futures also fell before the meeting dropping below $61 before rallying later in the session. The spread between the international and U.S. benchmarks for crude stood at 4.23, slightly above Thursday's level.
Iran, which could release a glut of crude into the global markets over the next several months if longstanding economic sanctions are lifted by Western powers, announced Friday that it is currently producing approximately 3 million bpd. In a span of only five years, Iran is optimistic it can double output to a level of 6 million bpd by 2020.
An outflow of Iranian oil into the global markets is considered to be bearish for crude prices, which have been tamped down by a glut of oversupply in recent months.
In the U.S., oil services firm Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI) said that the number of oil rigs nationwide fell last week by four to 642, the lowest level since August, 2010. It marked the 26th consecutive week of weekly rig declines. Though U.S. shale producers have been forced to slash drilling due to the lower price of crude, they have responded by keeping their more efficient rigs online.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus six other major currencies, surged 0.86% to 96.32 amid strong U.S. jobs data.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.