REUTERS
Oil advanced from its highest closing level in two months in New York as U.S. drillers cut the number of active rigs to the least in more than six years amid a global glut, Bloomberg reported.
Futures rose as much as 2.2% in New York and climbed to almost $40 a barrel in London. Rigs targeting oil fell by 8 to 392, declining for an 11th week to the lowest level since December 2009, according to Baker Hughes Inc., Bloomberg said.
Oil on Friday completed a third week of gains, the longest run since May, as U.S. crude production slid to the lowest since November 2014. Still, the nation's stockpiles are the largest in more than eight decades and still growing. A meeting among major producers to discuss freezing output may be held in Russia, Doha or Vienna in the March 20 to April 1 period, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on state television, according to the report.
West Texas Intermediate for April delivery added as much as 80 cents to $36.72 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $36.39 at 9:17 a.m. London time.
Brent for May settlement increased as much as 78 cents, or 2 percent, to $39.50 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The global benchmark crude was at a premium of 93 cents to WTI for May, Bloomberg reported.
U.S. production dropped for a sixth week to 9.08 million barrels a day, according to Energy Information Administration data. Stockpiles are at 518 million barrels, the most since 1930.