Oil prices on Friday stayed near three-year highs reached earlier this week, with ongoing OPEC-led supply cuts and strong demand gradually drawing down excess supplies. Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were at $73.74 per barrel at 0657 GMT, down 4 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 13 cents at $68.16 a barrel. Both Brent and WTI hit their highest levels since November, 2014 on Thursday, at $74.75 and $69.56 per barrel respectively. WTI is set for its second weekly gain, climbing more than 1 percent this week, while Brent is also poised to rise for a second week, adding around 1.5 percent.
Traders said there had been some profit-taking on Friday following Thursday’s multi-year highs. There was also some caution after Russia’s energy minister Alexander Novak was reported saying that a group of producers around the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as Russia may this year ease output restrictions. Producer cartel OPEC and its allies have been withholding production since 2017, helping push up prices. The deal to cut is currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2018.