Oil prices were up on Friday, supported by Saudi Arabia's impending oil output cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from February onwards.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $55.58 at 1320 GMT on Friday, posting a 0.59% increase from Monday when it traded at 0706 GMT registered at $55.25 per barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $52.58 at the same time on Friday, relative to $52.32 a barrel on Monday.
Saudi Arabia, the de-facto leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the main driver of OPEC+ production cuts, is due to voluntarily reduce its production in February and March by 1 million bpd.
Nonetheless, the spread of the virus variant worldwide followed up by accompanying restrictions and lockdowns capped price gains by limiting mobility and raising fears over weak demand.
To balance oil supply-demand dynamics, the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced on Thursday that US commercial crude oil inventories fell to the lowest level since March by 9.9 million barrels, or 2%, to 476.7 million barrels, relative to the market expectation of a build of 603,000 barrels.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr