2020.10.1619:10:00UTC+00Oil Futures Settle Marginally Down

Crude oil prices rebounded from the session's lows but still ended marginally down on Friday as worries about demand outlook amid the continued surge in coronavirus cases weighed on the commodity.

Several countries across Europe have imposed fresh restrictions to curb the spread of virus infections.

Several states in the U.S. are seeing a surge in new cases and increasing number of hospitalizations over the past few days.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $0.08 or about 0.2% at $40.88 a barrel, recovering from a low of $40.08 touched around mid-morning.

WTI crude oil futures for November gained about 0.7% in the week.

According to a report from Baker Hughes, the U.S. oil-ring count rose for a fourth week in a row, with active-oils count surging up by 12 to 205.

Active drilling-rig count rose by 13 to 282 this week, the report said.

Despite lingering concerns over demand recovery, OPEC and its allies plan to taper the ongoing oil production cuts as of January 2021, as initially agreed.

OPEC's Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo said on the Energy Intellgency Forum on Thursday that keeping market stability is the top priority of the OPEC+ agreement, but added "We have no illusions this recovery will take a long time."

An OPEC+ meeting, scheduled to take place on Nov 30 - Dec 1, will decide on the group's next policy move with regard to production cuts. There is an OPEC+ meeting scheduled for Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 to set policy.