Oil prices climb amid trade optimism, tightening global supply

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Oil prices continued to advance on Friday as the market was bolstered by signs of progress on U.S.-China trade talks and the tightening energy supply.

The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery increased by 1.18 U.S. dollars to settle at 55.59 U.S dollars per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery rose by 1.68 U.S. dollars to close at 66.25 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. For the week, the U.S. benchmark prices were up 5.4 percent, and the Brent gained about 6.7 percent.

China and the U.S. held the sixth round of high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing from Thursday to Friday.

Both sides reached a consensus in principle on major issues and had specific discussions about a memorandum of understanding on bilateral trade and economic matters. They agreed that consultations will be continued in Washington next week.

The latest progress on U.S.-China trade talks helped to ease worries about energy demand, experts noted.

A slew of recent data showed further cuts of global output, also supporting the prices.

Global supply fell by 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) to 99.7 million bpd in January, said the monthly report on Wednesday by the International Energy Agency.

A separate report on Tuesday showed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) significantly curbed its crude oil production. The OPEC said that crude oil production decreased by 797,000 barrels a day in January to an average of 30.81 million bpd.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency