Oil prices end week higher as OPEC sticks to cuts

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Crude oil prices finished the week ending March 1 higher on Friday as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was determined to continue its decision to cut production.

After deciding to lower their collective output by 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first half of 2019, OPEC and its allies are "taking a very slow and measured approach" to implement their deal, Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said Wednesday.

"Just as the second half of last year proved, we are interested in market stability first and foremost," Al-Falih said at a conference in Riyadh.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $66.35 per barrel at 1225 GMT on Friday for a 2.8 percent gain after it sank as low as $64.54 a barrel on Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump's statement.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate bounced back from $55.08 a barrel on Monday to trade at $57.63 per barrel at the same time for a 4.6 percent gain.

"Oil prices getting too high. OPEC, please relax and take it easy. World cannot take a price hike - fragile!" Trump wrote on Twitter on Monday, shortly before causing a decline of around 2.5 percent in crude prices.

Al-Falih quickly responded to Trump on Wednesday by saying "We are taking it easy," and added OPEC is "focused on the interests of the global economy and consumers around the world."

OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo was more generous in his comments as he praised shale oil producers in the U.S.

He said the global oil market would have been in a "major energy chaos" without the U.S.' shale oil production, which helped to meet global oil demand with its crude supplies.

OPEC's determination to stick to its supply cuts would gradually trim the glut in the global oil market and eventually push prices even higher, however, rising U.S. crude oil production is keeping some downward pressure on prices.

Crude oil production in the U.S. saw a new record high level of 12.1 million barrels per day for the week ending Feb. 22, according to the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

On the other hand, Washington's sanctions on Iranian and Venezuelan oil have removed some supply from in the market.