WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices rallied on Friday as global growth concerns eased and investors waited for supply cuts announced late last year by the oil producers cartel to kick in.
Oil output from OPEC fell by 530,000 barrels a day to 32.6 million a day last month, a Reuters survey found, marking the sharpest pullback since January 2017 as top exporter Saudi Arabia throttled back production.
Brent oil for March settlement jumped 2.27 percent to $57.22 a barrel, after falling more than 1 percent earlier in the day.
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery climbed nearly 2 percent to $48.02 a barrel, on track for a weekly gain of around 6 percent, its biggest weekly gain since July 2017.
China's commerce ministry said that China and the United States would hold vice ministerial level trade talks in Beijing on Jan 7-8.
Chinese slowing growth is having an impact on Apple and other American companies, but sales should recover once Washington strikes a trade deal with Beijing, a senior White House adviser said.
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute reported yesterday that U.S. crude inventories fell by 4.5 million barrels during the week ended Dec. 28.
Official data on crude inventory from U.S. Energy Information Administration is due later in the day.
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