Snapping a five-day winning streak, crude oil futures ended lower on Friday as traders took some profits and looked ahead to the upcoming meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies. OPEC and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, will meet on June 1 to consider the current oil market situation and decide on production levels. It is widely expected that the members will agree on a production hike as earlier proposed. Though, recent data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) that showed a larger than expected drop in crude inventories in the week ended May 21st helped limit oil's downside. Data released by Baker Hughes showed US rigs drilling for oil increased by 3 to 359 this week, rising for a fourth consecutive week. The total active US rig count, including those drilling for natural gas, climbed by 2 to 457.
Crude oil futures for July declined 53 cents or 0.8 percent to settle at $66.32 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, July Brent crude rose 17 cents or 0.2 percent to settle at 69.63 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.