Investing.com - Ongoing efforts by major global oil producers to cut output and reduce a global glut against a steady increase in U.S. production will continue to be the main driver of sentiment in the oil market in the week ahead.
Oil traders will await fresh weekly data on U.S. commercial crude inventories to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer and how fast output levels will continue to rise.
Market players will also pay close attention to any comments from global oil producers for further hints on whether they plan to extend their current production-cut agreement into next year.
Oil prices ended higher on Thursday, as traders cheered data showing the first fall in U.S. oil rigs in three weeks.
There was no trading on Friday, as oil markets remained closed due to the Passover and Easter holidays.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures tacked on 56 cents, or roughly 0.9%, by close of trade Thursday to end the week at $64.94 a barrel.
The U.S. benchmark was down 1.4% for the week, but 5.3% higher for the month. For quarter and year to date, the contract was up roughly 7.5%.
Meanwhile, London-traded Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., inched up 58 cents, or nearly 0.8%, to settle at $69.34 a barrel.
The global oil benchmark finished about 0.3% lower for the week, but still notched a gain of 6.8% for the month and 5.1% for the quarter.
Sentiment picked up after General Electric (NYSE:GE)'s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Thursday that the number of oil drilling rigs declined by six to 798 last week.
That helped firm support for crude prices amid positive reports Wednesday, suggesting that OPEC and Russia were working on a long-term pact to keep oil prices steady.
In November last year, OPEC and other producers, including Russia agreed to cut output by about 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to slash global inventories to the five year-average. The arrangement is set to expire at the end of 2018.
But their efforts have been somewhat stifled by rising non-OPEC output, led by U.S. shale producers.
Domestic oil production rose to an all-time high of 10.43 million bpd last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, staying above Saudi Arabia's output levels and within reach of Russia, the world's biggest crude producer.
Ahead of the coming week, Investing.com has compiled a list of the main events likely to affect the oil market.
Monday
China is to release data on the Caixin manufacturing index.
Most markets in Europe will be closed for the Easter Holiday.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management is to publish its manufacturing index.
Tuesday
The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is to publish its weekly report on U.S. oil supplies.
Wednesday
The euro zone is to publish preliminary inflation data.
The U.S. is to release the ADP nonfarm payrolls report and later in the day, the ISM is to publish its non-manufacturing index.
That will be followed by the release of the U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly report on oil and gasoline stockpiles.
Thursday
The U.S. government will publish a weekly report on natural gas supplies in storage.
Friday
The U.S. is to round up the week with the nonfarm payrolls report for March.
Later in the day, Baker Hughes will release weekly data on the U.S. oil rig count.