Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday, after the world's major oil producers agreed to extend production cuts until the end of 2018.

Crude Oil Bounces Back in Choppy Trade, Weekly Data in Focus

LONDON, September 12, 2017 – U.S. crude oil futures bounced back on Tuesday, erasing earlier losses as traders turned to the weekly data on U.S. stockpiles, as well as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ monthly report.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude October contract was at $48.23 a barrel by 09:00 a.m. ET (13:00 GMT), up 16 cents or about 0.33%.

Elsewhere, Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London gained 33 cents or 0.61% to $54.16 a barrel.

U.S. oil futures found support following an official downgrading of Hurricane Irma’s strength to Category 1 on Monday. easing worries that energy demand would be hit hard.

Prices were also boosted by reports that Saudi Arabia’s oil minister discussed possibly extending a pact to cut global oil supplies beyond March 2018 with his Venezuelan and Kazakh counterparts.

OPEC and other producers, including Russia, have agreed to reduce output by about 1.8 million barrels per day until next March in a bid to reduce global oil inventories and support oil prices.

A further extension for at least three more months beyond March is now being discussed before OPEC meets again in November.

Elsewhere, gasoline futures climbed 0.81% to $1.649 a gallon, while natural gas futures rallied 0.98% to $2.979 per million British thermal units.

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