NEW YORK: Oil prices rose more than 2 percent on Friday on expectations that this weekend’s meeting of the world’s top oil producers would demonstrate compliance to a global output cut deal, but rising U.S. drilling activity limited gains. “The petroleum markets are moving higher in Friday trade on the latest round of positive talk about how much supply oil producers have taken offline ahead of Sunday’s review by OPEC and non-OPEC representatives in Vienna,” Tim Evans, Citi Futures’ energy futures specialist, said in a note. Prices pared gains after data from energy services firm Baker Hughes showed U.S. drilling companies this week added the most oil rigs in nearly four years. Swelling oil stockpiles in the U.S. and rising shale production could threaten market rebalancing, analysts said. Libya’s National Oil Corporation, meanwhile, said production had now climbed to 722,000 bpd, resuming its rise after poor weather had caused a small dip.

Source: Libya Today January 21, 2017 04:14 UTC