Oil grasps for another weekly profit after favorable data, OPEC's meeting

Brent crude widened its gains in American trade on Friday, heading for the third daily profit in a row and hitting a six-month high, as US crude futures pared their losses, with oil futures overall on track for another weekly profit as OPEC's meeting with other producers wrapped up in Vienna on promises of opening the door for a possible extension of their cooperation into 2018, while the US oil rig count hit a three-month low. 

As of 19:04 GMT, Brent rose to $56.77 a barrel from the opening of $56.46, with an intraday high at $56.89, the best since March 2017, and a low at $56.21. 

US crude fell to $50.65 a barrel from the opening of $50.71, with a session-high at $50.76, and a low at $50.28. 

US crude October futures gained less than 0.1% yesterday, in what was the longest streak of daily profits since June, after hitting a four-month high at $51.09. 

Brent November futures advanced 0.6%, after remarks by Iraqi oil minister on a possible OPEC extension of the deal to cut global output. 

US crude marked a 1.7% profit so far this week, on track for the third weekly profit in a row, while Brent advanced 2.2%, heading for the fourth weekly profit. 

These gains were on the back of an upward outlook for global demand, which could achieve balance in markets, while the US oil industry rebounded from Hurricane Harvey's devastating impact. 

The ministerial committee responsible for monitoring the global output deal said after today's Vienna meeting that the cuts made by OPEC and other producers are working positively to sap the market oversupply, which weighed on prices for long years.  

Some initial reports said that the meeting has ended without any recommendation of an extension to the global deal beyond March, 2018, missing forecasts of an official recommendation of such tone ahead of OPEC's official group meeting in November.  

Oil prices rallied 15% since July, after the compliance rate with the global deal to cut output by 1.8 million bpd reached 110% in August. 

Russian oil energy minister Alexander Novak said that it's not expected that the meeting will lead to an extension to the output deal before next January, asserting the importance of coordination between different producers. 

Other ministers said in Vienna that taking a decision on extending global output cuts could be made at OPEC's next meeting in November. 

Venezuelan oil minister Del Beno said to the press that decisions will be made in November, and OPEC producers are studying all the options, including an extension to the deal beyond March 2018. 

Baker Hughes, the US oil services company, reported a drop of 5 in the US oil rig counts last week, marking a current total of 744, the lowest since the week ending June 16.