18.08.201720:20:00UTC+00Oil Prices Surges Three Percent as Dollar Retreats

Oil prices sharply increased on Friday, as the dollar weakened and U.S. drillers shuttered some rigs, powering a rally that bolstered the global benchmark Brent crude to post a weekly gain while the U.S. crude ended the week virtually flat.

U.S. WTI crude futures for September delivery increased $1.42 to $48.51 per barrel, marking a 3 percent increase. Brent crude oil futures advanced $1.69 or 3.3 percent to trade at $52.72 per barrel.

Prices of both benchmarks had been both poised for weekly declines of over 2 percent, by the sharp rally on Friday left the Brent with a 1.5 percent weekly gain, while the U.S. crude closed the week almost unchanged, falling by just 0.3 percent.

U.S. energy companies reduced the number of oil rigs by five down to 763, marking the second week out of three such drop happened, according to Baker Hughes energy services firm. Drillers also reduced their capex plans in response to the declining crude prices.

Official data released earlier in the week indicated that crude production in the U.S. was still increasing.