Investing.com -- Crude futures closed slightly lower on a volatile, see-saw day of trading, reacted to a sharp decline in U.S. oil rigs last week and comments from Venezuela's oil minister on a meeting next month between OPEC and Non-OPEC members that could result in an output freeze by four major producers.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for April delivery wavered between $32.67 and $34.66 a barrel before settling at $32.78, down 0.29 or 0.88% on the day. Although WTI crude halted a three-day winning streak, it still closed higher for the second consecutive week. Since falling to 13-year lows at $26.05 on February 11, U.S. crude futures have rebounded by approximately 15%.
On the Intercontinental Exchange, brent crude for April delivery traded between $34.73 and $36.99 a barrel before closing at $35.10, down 0.19 or 0.54% on the session. At session-highs, North Brent sea futures reached their highest level since early-January. Brent futures are up by roughly 10% since briefly dropping below $30 a barrel in mid-February.
Meanwhile, the spread between the international and U.S. benchmarks of crude stood at $2.32, above Thursday's level of $1.99 at the close of trading.
Investors on Friday continued to react to comments from Eulogio Del Pino, a day after the Venezuelan oil minister reiterated that OPEC will host a meeting next month to discuss a potential production freeze among a group of major exporters. The summit, Del Pino, told broadcast network Telesur, will include 10 nations, including Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar. The aforementioned trio, as well as Venezuela, agreed in principle to an agreement last week, in which the four nations have pledged to limit their production this year to levels reached in January.
The pact could help stabilize cascading oil prices, which have tumbled more than 70% as top producers have saturated the market with a glut of oversupply in an effort to dominate market share. Crude futures have also crashed more than $40 a barrel since OPEC rattled markets in November, 2014, by maintaining its production ceiling above 30 million barrels per day as part of an apparent strategy to crowd out high-cost U.S. shale producers.
Earlier this week, Russia energy minister Alexander Novak cautioned that the low price cycle could last through 2017 if the so-called Doha Agreement is not adopted by the four nations. It followed bearish remarks from Saudi Arabian counterpart Ali al-Naimi, who emphatically told an audience at the CERAWeek Energy Conference in Houston that the kingdom will not lower production from its January total. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia are pumping oil at near-record levels, above 10 million barrels per day.
Oil services firm Baker Hughes said Friday that U.S. oil rigs fell by 13 to 400 for the week ending on Feb. 19, marking the 10th straight week of such declines. The U.S. oil rig count is at its lowest level since December, 2009. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday that production dipped by 33,000 to 9.102 million last week, falling for the fifth consecutive week.
While U.S. shale producers have demonstrated resiliency over the last 15 months by drilling efficiently, major reductions in the rig count are viewed as a lagging indicator of falling production.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, surged more than 0.80% to an intraday high of 98.29. The index reached its highest level in nearly three weeks.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.