Investing.com – Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday as recent data showing an uptick in U.S. crude supplies and a surge in domestic production was offset by growing expectations that Opec will extend its global accord to cut output.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for December delivery rose by 46 cents to settle at $52.64 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent gained 44 cents to trade at $59.30 a barrel.
Crude Oil prices struggled for direction as investors weighed the recent uptick in U.S. crude supplies and production against growing expectations that Opec would extend its supply-cut agreement amid bullish comments from Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Answering a question on whether he supported extending the production cut agreement, Prince Salman said “of course” and insisted that Opec “need to continue stabilizing the market”, fuelling investor expectations that support for prolonged cuts is growing among Opec members.
“Everyone is looking forward to the OPEC meeting at the end of next month,” said Thomas Pugh, a commodities economist at Capital Economics.
In May, Opec producers agreed to extend production cuts for a period of nine months until March, but stuck to production cuts of 1.2 million bpd agreed in November last year.
The bullish comments helped turn sentiment on oil prices positive amid investor concerns over recent data showing both U.S. crude supplies and domestic production jumped last week.
Inventories of U.S. crude rose by roughly 856,000 barrels in the week ended Oct. 20, missing expectations of a draw of 2.6m barrels. That was the first increase in five weeks.
U.S. crude production, meanwhile, surged to 9.5m barrels per day (bpd) as daily exports of crude, diesel and other petroleum products climbed to 7.66m barrels last week, the EIA said Wednesday.