Oil on track for second weekly gains in row

Oil prices maintained their gains in American trade on track for the ninth daily profit in a row, while heading for the second weekly profit in a row amid cautious optimism that US and China will wrap up a deal to end their trade dispute soon, while OPEC's output fell to two-year lows. 

As of 12:55 GMT, US crude rose to $52.55 a barrel, with the highest since December 13 at $53.29, and a session-low at $52.13. 

Brent rose to $61.45 a barrel, with an intraday low at $61.03, and the highest since December 7 at $62.46. 

US crude rose 0.3% yesterday, while Brent added 0.2%, the eighth profit in a row, the longest such streak of gains since June 2017. 

Oil prices are up 9% this week, heading for the second weekly profit in a row, and the largest since June 2018. 

Following three days on talks in Beijing, US and Chinese officials are reportedly closing in on a new trade deal. 

Reuters reported the steepest decline on OPEC production in December in two years, with Saudi Arabia commencing the deal to cut output before its official start date. 

OPEC pumped 32.68 million bpd in December, down 460 thousand bpd, the largest such monthly decline since January 2017. 

OPEC and independent producers reached an agreement in December to cut global output by 1.2 million bpd starting January, with OPEC taking up 800 thousand bpd of the deal. 

Saudi Arabia alone cut 400 thousand bpd of output in December, and announced to plans for even steeper cuts than agreed upon in the deal.