Grapevine

Oil steadies on U.S. crude stock drawdown, OPEC+ output hikes delay

Oil wells are seen at an oil facility by the Highway 5 near Bakersfield in California, U.S. on Nov. 27, 2022.

Oil prices edged up in early trading on Friday as investors weighed a big withdrawal from U.S. crude inventories and a delay to production hikes by OPEC+ producers against mixed U.S. employment data.

Brent crude futures rose 19 cents, or 0.26%, to $72.88 at 0010 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 22 cents, or 0.32%, to $69.37.

"Crude oil edged higher as bullish signals offset the bearish sentiment that has gripped the market in recent days," ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said, adding that a weaker dollar was also supporting commodities prices.

Brent settled down 1 cent at its lowest close since June 2023 on Thursday and WTI was down 5 cents to the lowest close since December 2023 after data showed that U.S. crude stockpiles fell to a one-year low last week.

Crude stockpiles fell by 6.9 million barrels to 418.3 million barrels last week compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 993,000-barrel draw.