WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil futures ended slightly lower on Friday, snapping a four-session winning streak, as traders chose to take some profits ahead of the weekend.
Renewed optimism about U.S.-China trade talks and a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that said output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had dropped to its lowest level in four years limited oil's decline.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.09, or 0.2%, at $58.52 a barrel.
On Thursday, crude oil futures for April ended up $0.35, or 0.6%, at $58.61 a barrel, after surging up 2.4% a session earlier.
The report from IEA said output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries had fallen by 240,000 barrels a day last month, to 30.68 million barrels day.
The IEA, which cited losses in Venezuela, and lower output from Saudi Arabia and Iraq as the reasons for the decline in production, left its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2019 unchanged at 1.4 million barrels a day.
On Thursday, OPEC had said in its monthly oil report that oil production declined in February although the drop was significantly lower than the decline in the prior month and well below its pledge to the market.
The meeting of the OPEC and non-OPEC Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, scheduled for Monday will give some direction for the oil market in the week ahead.
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