International benchmark Brent crude traded at $61.88 per barrel at 11.52GMT on Friday while the price of American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) saw $52.77 per barrel at the same time.
Brent started the week at $59.80 per barrel at 06.46 GMT on Monday while WTI registered at $51.02 a barrel.
Crude oil prices showed fluctuations after weaker Chinese trade data and following rises in U.S. oil output.
Brent oil prices dropped below $60 per barrel on Monday after Chinese data showed diminishing imports and exports.
According to the official data, China’s December exports fell by 4.4 percent from a year earlier, showing the biggest monthly drop in two years.
Global oil supply decreased month on month in December by 0.35 million barrels per day (b/d) to average 100.02 million b/d compared with the previous month, preliminary data of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) showed on Thursday.
OPEC's monthly oil market report in January said that OPEC crude oil production in December decreased by 751 thousand b/d to average 31.58 million b/d, according to secondary sources.
In addition on Thursday, U.S. crude oil inventories decreased last week while crude oil production rose to sustain record high levels, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
EIA data showed that commercial crude oil stocks decreased by 2.7 million barrels, to 437.1 million barrels for the week ending Jan. 11 while the market expectation was a decline of 1.3 million barrels.
-Crude production rises
The U.S.' crude oil production increased by 200 thousand and reached around 11.9 million b/d for the week ending Jan.11, according to the EIA.
Since the week ending Nov. 9, 2018, crude oil production in the country has consistently increased and reached historic peaks of on average 11.9 million b/d.
This marked the 42nd time crude oil production in the U.S. showed an increase over the past 53 weeks.
The U.S.' crude oil production is expected to average 12.1 million b/d in 2019, according to the EIA's Short Term Energy Outlook report for December.
On Friday, global oil supply fell by 950 thousand b/d in December, led by lower OPEC output with 100.6 million b/d ahead of new supply cuts, according to IEA data.
According to the agency, a sharp fall in Saudi Arabia’s output from its record highs ahead of new OPEC/non-OPEC supply cuts along with further unplanned outages in Iran and Libya, and a seasonal drop in biofuels wiped 950 thousand b/d off global oil production in December.
OPEC's crude oil output dropped by 590 thousand b/d in December to reach 32.39 million b/d while non-OPEC supply fell by 360 thousand b/d in December to reach 61.2 million b/d, according to the IEA's Oil Market Report.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr