Magnifying their previous session’s gains, crude oil futures ended higher on Friday after top producers Saudi Arabia and Russia extended supply cuts through September, adding to undersupply concerns. Saudi Arabia on Thursday said it would extend its voluntary oil output cut of 1 million barrels per day for a third month to include September. Oil prices were also supported by a weak dollar. The dollar drifted lower after data showing a smaller than expected increase in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in the month of July raised expectations the Federal Reserve will soon end its interest-rate hiking cycle. Meanwhile, data released by Baker Hughes said the total number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 5 to 659 this week. This week's count is 416 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019 prior to the pandemic. The number of oil rigs declined by 4 this week to 525, while the number of gas rigs stayed the same at 128.
Benchmark crude oil futures for September delivery rose $1.27 or about 1.5 percent to settle at $82.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery surged $0.86 or 1.01 percent to settle at $86.00 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.