Investing.com – Crude oil prices settled higher on Friday following a late-session surge on the back of data showing signs of U.S. production tightening as US oil rig counts fell to a nearly six-month low.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for December delivery rose $1.10 cents to settle at $55.64 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent added $1.50 to trade at $62.12 a barrel.
Crude oil settled at two-year highs amid a spike in sentiment on oil prices after the number of oil rigs operating in the US fell by eight to 729, declining for the fourth week in five, according to data from energy services firm Baker Hughes.
That was the first time since May 26 that oil rig counts fell below 730, fueling expectations that market rebalancing is well underway as data earlier this week showed Opec members continued to cut output.
Saudi Arabia continued to cut oil output as inventories declined significantly in October, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said Thursday, describing compliance with the Opec-led accord to curb output as "excellent."
Russian also adhered to the cuts stipulated in the output-cut agreement despite increasing output to 10.93 million bpd in October from 10.91 million bpd in September, official data showed Thursday.
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 rally in crude oil prices comes as investor optimism on an extension of the Opec-led agreement following recent comments from both Opec and non-opec officials ahead of the Opec meeting in Vienna on Nov. 30.