Investing.com – Crude futures settled higher on Friday, after sinking nearly 5% in the previous session, following investor disappointment that the OPEC-led deal extension failed to include deeper cuts to rein in the glut in supply.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for July delivery gained 1.8% to settle at $49.80 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added 1.2% to trade at $52.09 a barrel.
The rebound in crude futures comes a day after oil prices suffered a nearly 5% tumble, as investors questioned whether the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies’ decision to extend production cuts nine more months would effectively rein in supply.
OPEC and non-OPEC members agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March on Thursday, but stuck to the output cut targets agreed in November last year, against expectations that the oil cartel would take a more aggressive approach with deeper cuts.
Investors feared that the lack of both deeper cuts and inclusion of new non-OPEC members in the supply-cut pact would encourage non-OPEC members such as the U.S. to ramp up output, limiting OPEC’s efforts to curb global output.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid Al-Falih, said he expected a “healthy return” for U.S. shale but remained confident that a boom in U.S. shale won’t derail OPEC’s effort to tackle the demand and supply imbalance.
Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes reported its weekly U.S. rig count rose by 2 to 722. It was the nineteenth straight increase in the number of active U.S. drilling rigs.