Crude oil prices continued their decline on Friday as Saudi Arabia has restored the majority of its production to pre-attack levels, ending worries that global oil supply would remain low for the remainder of the year.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $62.28 per barrel at 0630 GMT for a 0.48% loss after ending Thursday at $62.58 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was at $56.19 a barrel at the same time -- marking a 0.15% decline from the previous close of $56.27 per barrel.
Saudi Arabia's oil production increased much higher than previously anticipated, and pushed crude prices lower.
Oil output at two key Saudi Aramco facilities stood at 6.2 million barrels per day (mbpd), compared to the pre-attack level of 7 mbpd, according to news reports on Friday.
The kingdom was reported as restoring much of the output to pre-attack levels at crude oil processing plants at Abqaiq and at the Khurais oil field.
While Abqaiq's capacity has been restored to 4.9 mbpd, against the pre-attack capacity of 5.5 mbpd, Khurais is currently operating at 1.3 mbpd compared to the pre-attack level of 1.5 mbpd.
On the demand side, the global oil consumption outlook turned positive after news that the U.S. and China are set to restart trade talks on Oct. 10.
A new round of trade talks between the world's two biggest economies are due to take place in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 10-11, with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He representing the Beijing delegation, media outlet reports said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that China wants to make a trade deal 'very badly', and the deal could happen sooner than expected.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr