Oil is heading for gains for the sixth week, amid pledges to cut production

Oil prices rose for the second day in a row on Friday and are set to achieve a weekly gain for the sixth time in a row, after Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to cut production until the end of next month.

Brent oil futures for October delivery rose 30 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $85.44 a barrel by 0042 GMT.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures for September delivery rose 36 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $81.90 a barrel.

Yesterday, Thursday, Brent recovered its losses, which amounted to 2 percent in the Wednesday session, which makes futures contracts on their way to achieving a weekly increase of 0.4 percent, while it is expected that West Texas Intermediate crude oil will end the week, up 1.4 percent, after the decline in US crude oil inventories by the largest amount ever on Wednesday.

Both benchmarks are heading for a sixth consecutive week of gains, their longest streak of gains this year.

Saudi Arabia said in a statement on Thursday that it would extend a voluntary oil production cut of 1 million barrels per day for another month in September. The announcement came the day before a scheduled meeting of ministers from the OPEC+ alliance, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia.

Sources ruled out that the joint ministerial follow-up committee of the OPEC + alliance would make any amendments to the general oil production policy during its meeting on Friday. But the Saudi pledge, as well as comments from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who said Russia would cut its oil exports by 300,000 barrels per day in September, raised supply concerns and supported prices.

The OPEC+ alliance agreed to a general deal to limit supplies until 2024 at its meeting on production policy in June, at the same time Saudi Arabia voluntarily pledged to cut production further in July and then extended the cuts in August.

After the kingdom’s decision, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the United States will continue to work with producers and consumers to ensure that the energy market supports growth.

The United States is the largest producer of crude oil in the world, while Saudi Arabia and Russia occupy the second and third places.