Investing.com - US crude prices fell in Asia on Friday, following a second straight negative day and on pace for a more than 5% drop on week for its worst weekly performance since May of 2017 when it fell 6.30%.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for March delivery fell 1.01% to $60.53 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent was last quoted at $64.27 a barrel.
The Baker Hughes US oil rig count stood at 765 last week, with the markets focused on the response of smaller producers to recent prices.
Overnight, crude oil prices settled lower amid ongoing negative sentiment as traders continued to fret growing US oil supplies and output.
Crude oil prices were on track for the biggest weekly slump since March as investors fled risk assets which added to ongoing negative sentiment on oil prices.
Inventories of U.S. crude rose 1.895 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 2, below expectations for for a rise of 3.189 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday. The build in crude comes amid a slowdown in refinery activity as refiners enter a period of maintenance. Subdued refinery activity lessened demand for crude oil, contributing to the recent build in inventories.
EIA's preliminary figures on Wednesday also showed weekly U.S. production hit 10.25 million barrels a day. That level brings the US closer to world's top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Also weighing on sentiment on oil prices was the restart of the Forties pipeline in the North Sea, following an outage Wednesday.
Some investors have, so far, appeared reluctant to abandon their bullish bets on oil, increasing their net long positions in oil for the fourth-straight week.
Speculative net long position in crude oil rose by about 8,000 contracts to a net long 734,600contracts, according to the most recent Commitment of Traders (COT) report.