Investing.com - Crude oil edged up in Asia on Friday with U.S. rig count data on tap expected to set the tone.
Crude oil for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 0.36% to $50.62 a barrel.
Last week, oilfield services provider Baker Hughes said the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. last week rose by 3 to 428, marking the 14th increase in 15 weeks.
Overnight, in a knee-jerk reaction, West Texas Intermediate oil futures extended losses, falling below the $50 level, in North American trade on Thursday, after data showed that oil supplies in the U.S. registered a massive build.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its weekly report that crude oil inventories rose by 4.900 million barrels in the week ended October 7. Market analysts' expected a crude-stock increase of 0.65 million barrels, while the American Petroleum Institute late Wednesday reported a supply build of 2.7 million barrels.
The reports came out one day later than usual due to Monday's Columbus Day holiday. Supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the key delivery point for NYMEX crude, fell by 1.318 million barrels last week, the EIA said. Total U.S. crude oil inventories stood at 474.0 million barrels as of last week, according to press release which, as of this week, no longer includes crude oil lease stocks. The EIA commented that stockpiles were at “historically high levels for this time of year”.
The report also showed that gasoline inventories fell by 1.900 million barrels, compared to expectations for a decline of 1.491 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 3.700 million barrels, compared to forecasts for a decrease of 1.593 million.
Elsewhere, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil for December delivery ended at $51.98 a barrel.
Oil has been under pressure the last two days after OPEC reported that its oil production rose in September to its highest level in eight years and pointed to a larger surplus next year, despite an agreement to potentially cut output.
The producer cartel pumped 33.39 million barrels per day last month, up 220,000 barrels per day from August.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries reached an agreement to limit production to a range of 32.5 million to 33.0 million barrels per day in talks held on the sidelines of an energy conference in Algeria late last month.
However, market analysts remained skeptical of the deal, pondering how such a plan would be implemented.
The 14-member oil group said it won’t finalize details or complete its production agreement until the group’s next official meeting in Vienna on November 30.