Investing.com -- Crude futures halted a six-day losing streak on Friday, closing near session-highs, after shrugging off reports of a third consecutive weekly gain among U.S. oil rigs.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for July delivery traded between $45.84 and $48.06 a barrel before closing at $47.98, up $1.77 or 3.83% on the session. On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for August delivery wavered between $47.01 and $49.23 a barrel, before settling at $49.19, up $2.00 or 4.24% on the day. Despite the sharp gains, both the international and U.S. benchmarks of crude are each down by approximately 5% from multi-month highs hit last week.
WTI crude has gained more than 80% in value since slumping to 13-year lows at $26.05 a barrel on February 11.
On Friday afternoon, oil services firm Baker Hughes said in its weekly rig count report that U.S. oil rigs last week rose by nine to 337 for the week ending on June 10. It marked the third straight of weekly increases, the longest since last August. At the same time, the gas rig count inched up by one last week to 87, boosting the overall count by 10 to 424. The overall rig count is still down by 433 in comparison with the total from the same week last year.
Any gains in U.S. oil rigs typically provide lagging indications that production nationwide is about to increase. Over the last year, U.S. output has fallen sharply as high-cost shale producers were forced offline due to a prolonged downturn in prices. Last week, production in the U.S. fell by 29,000 barrels per day to 8.716 million barrels per day, remaining down by approximately 1 million bpd from its level 12 months ago. Last June, U.S. crude output eclipsed 9.6 million bpd to hit its highest level in more than 40 years.
Since reaching a peak of $115 a barrel in June 14, crude prices have tumbled more than 50% amid a glut of oversupply on global energy markets.
Earlier this week, analysts from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) said they viewed the price recovery in oil "as fragile," reflecting recent production delays in Canada and Nigeria, as well as larger than expected output among top producers in the Persian Gulf. While Goldman noted that not all producers will be able to ramp up production at higher prices, the analysts emphasized that some of the more capitalized ones might have the ability to come back online.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, fell more than 0.45% to an intraday low of 94.17, its lowest level in a week. The index is down by more than 5% since early-December.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.