Crude oil futures settled higher for fourth straight session on Thursday, on continued optimism that crude oil supplies will drop thanks to OPEC and its allies' commitment to reduce output to stabilize the oil market. OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, extended their current oil output policy at a meeting on Wednesday. Amid uncertain prospects for the global economy, there wasn't any recommendation about changing the production levels of the alliance. Ministers led by Saudi Arabia and Russia struck a note of cautious optimism about global oil markets and stressed the importance of accelerating market re-balancing without delay.
Crude oil futures for March rose $0.54 or 1 percent to settle at $ 56.23 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April Brent crude gained $ 0.12 or 0.2 percent to settle at $ 58.81 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.