Investing.com -- Crude futures inched down on Friday amid a relatively flat dollar, as U.S. oil rigs fell for the first time in six weeks, marking its largest weekly decline since the start of the summer.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for October delivery traded between $45.80 and $47.20 a barrel before settling at $46.03, down 0.73 or 1.48% on the session. Texas Long Sweet futures halted a two-day winning streak. Still, U.S. crude futures closed the week up more than 4% on the back of massive gains on Monday when WTI crude surged by more than $4 a barrel.
On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for October delivery wavered between $49.69 and $51.03 a barrel before closing at $49.61, down 1.09 or 2.16% on the day. North Sea brent crude futures ended the week up nearly 2%. Meanwhile, the spread between the international and U.S. domestic benchmarks of crude stood at $3.58, below Thursday's level of $3.98 at the close.
On Friday afternoon, oil services firm Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI) said in its weekly rig count that U.S. oil rigs for the week ending on Aug. 28 fell by 13 to 662. It marked the first week that the weekly rig count climbed higher since mid-July. A week earlier, U.S. oil rigs rose by one to 675, marking the eighth increase in the weekly rig count over the last nine weeks.
The weekly draw had little impact on crude futures, as prices only rose moderately after the release of the report. Energy traders may have expected a sharper reduction as demand continues to wane toward the end of the summer driving season. Gasoline demand typically falls considerably after Labor Day Weekend.
Elsewhere, top advisors of Russia president Vladimir Putin provided strong signals on Friday that they expect global crude prices to remain near its current level over the next year. Speaking to reporters in Vladivostok, Andrey Belousov, Putin's top economic aide, said the 2016 budget will be based on oil at $50 a barrel due to the difficulty of predicting the direction of global crude prices. Separately, Russia deputy prime minister Arkady Dvorkovich said at forum in Italy that Russia is comfortable with oil at $60 a barrel.
It came one day after Putin and Venezuela president Nicolas Maduro agreed to work collaboratively in an effort to stabilize oil prices throughout the world. Crashing oil prices have hammered the economies of the two export-reliant nations over the last year.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, rose modestly to an intraday high of 96.59 before falling back to 96.20 in afternoon trading. With several hours left in Friday's session, the index was on pace to gain approximately 0.4% on the week.
A mixed U.S. jobs report for the month of August on Friday provided few hints on whether the Federal Reserve will lift short-term interest rates later this month. Last month, the U.S. non-farm payrolls ticked up by 173,000 while the unemployment rate fell by 0.2% to 5.1%, its lowest level since April, 2008. Economists, however, expected an increase of 223,000 non-farm payrolls on the month.
Dollar-denominated commodities such as crude become more expensive for foreign purchasers when the dollar appreciates.