OPEC and Russia tout progress
Producers have already cut output by 1.5 mbpd, according to Saudi minister of energy Khalid Al-Falih. He said his country along with Kuwait and Algeria have already taken more off the market than required.
Meanwhile, Russian oil minister Novak said progress in cutting Russian production was "ahead of schedule".
The monitoring committee of OPEC are meeting today and tomorrow. The topic won't yet be compliance because we're not yet at the end of the first month of the agreement. Instead, they will talk about how to monitor and measure.
The total amount of oil expected to be removed from the market for six months is 1.8 mbpd. Skeptics argue that much of the 'cut' is optics and that countries were producing beyond capacity in the lead-up to the agreement or had scheduled natural/seasonal depletions.
Influential Algerian oil minister Boutarfa repeated a comment from his Saudi counterpart, who said last week that quotas beyond June may not be necessary.
"If we really comply by 80-90%, it may not be necessary to continue," he said.
WTI crude finished $1.10 higher on Friday to $53.22 but failed in a test of downtrend resistance after a large jump in oil drilling rigs.
