Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Friday, but the most active futures contract still posted its fourth straight weekly loss amid concerns about the outlook for near term energy demand.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $2.99 or about 4.1% at $75.89 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed about 4% in the week.
Brent crude futures surged nearly 4% to 80.47 a barrel.
Crude oil saw some weak spells this week due to a sharp rise in U.S. crude stockpiles over the last couple of weeks, and concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to weak economic data from the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Meanwhile, a report released by Baker Hughes this afternoon showed the rig count in the U.S. rose by 6 to 500 this week.
The focus now is on the OPEC meeting, scheduled to take place on November 26. Traders are waiting to see if Saudi Arabia and Russia will consider rolling over their voluntary supply cuts into 2024.
Some reports indicate OPEC+ may deepen its production cuts to provide additional support to the market.
