Oil Extends Rise Above $44 After Biggest Weekly Gain Since April

• Saudi Arabia signals it’s open to discuss stabilizing markets
• U.S. drillers added oil rigs for a seventh week: Baker Hughes

Oil extended its advance above $44 a barrel after posting the biggest weekly increase since April.

Futures rose as much as 0.6 percent in New York after climbing 6.4 percent last week as Saudi Arabia signaled it’s prepared to discuss stabilizing markets at informal OPEC discussions next month. Venezuela’s oil and foreign ministers will visit producer countries to lobby for price increases ahead of the talks, President Nicolas Maduro said. U.S. producers added rigs for a seventh week, the longest run since 2014, according Baker Hughes Inc. data on Friday.Oil has rebounded more than 10 percent since closing below $40 a barrel and tumbling into a bear market earlier this month. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in a statement last week that talks with Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members and other producers may result in action to stabilize the market, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said.
“Oil is now close to an equilibrium price, and unless we get further developments, I would expect to see it trading around the $44 to $45 level for the balance of the week,” said Michael McCarthy, a chief market strategist in Sydney at CMC Markets. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see a little bit of pressure as some investors lock in some of the gains they’ve made.”
West Texas Intermediate for September delivery rose as much as 25 cents to $44.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $44.58 at 7:42 a.m. in Hong Kong. Prices advanced $1 to settle at $44.49 a barrel on Friday, the highest since July 21. Total volume traded was about 64 percent below the 100-day average.
Brent for October settlement added as much as 28 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $47.25 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract increased 2 percent to close at $46.97 on Friday. The global benchmark crude traded at a $1.79 premium to WTI for October delivery.