Oil traded near the highest closing price in almost three weeks after US drilling slowed after a record expansion.
Futures were little changed in New York after rising 8.3% the previous seven sessions.
US drillers targeting crude reduced the number of active rigs for the first time in 24 weeks, according to Baker Hughes Inc. data on Friday.
Libya’s oil production climbed to more than 1 million barrels a day for the first time in four years, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation.
While prices surged last week, oil in New York and London still posted a monthly loss in June after tumbling into a bear market on concerns that rising global supply will counter cuts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners. There are signs of a slowdown in the US, but Libya is adding more oil to the market as it restarts fields that are exempt from OPEC’s production curbs.
Stephen Brennock, an analyst at PVM Oil Associates Ltd. in London, said: “A further pillar of price support came as the relentless surge in U.S. drilling activity took a break.
“[It} suggests some producers are starting to feel the pinch from the recent slide in prices.”
West Texas Intermediate for August delivery fell 4 cents to $46 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:59 a.m. in London. Total volume traded was about 8 percent below the 100-day average. The contract gained $1.11 to $46.04 on Friday to the highest since June 13.
Brent for September settlement was 11 cents lower at $48.66 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Front-month prices gained 5.2 percent last week. The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.41 to September WTI.
US drillers reduced the number of rigs by 2 to 756, snapping the longest stretch of gains in at least three decades, according to Baker Hughes. The count had climbed to the highest level since April 2015.
Libya’s output has rebounded from only 690,000 barrels a day at the start of the year, with Sharara, the country’s largest oil field, resuming production last month. State National Oil Corp.
Chairman Mustafa Sanalla said in April he wanted to boost national output to 1.1 million barrels a day by August.
