Oil price are falling on Friday.

WTI crude, the US benchmark, is down by 2.7% at $US49.32 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international benchmark, is down by 2.4% at $US51.72 per barrel as of 1:05 p.m. ET.

Prices for both have fallen by about 7% this week.

Oil tumbled earlier in the week after a smaller than expected drawdown in oil inventories and the first jump in gasoline supplies in several months.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Khalid al-Falih suggested at an oil conference that production cuts may need to continue, and added that “there is an initial agreement that we might be obligated to extend to get to our target.”

Kuwait’s oil minister Essam al-Marzouq said he expected the agreement to be extended. However, Russia, which not a member of OPEC, has not yet committed.

Meanwhile, the US oil-rig count rose by five to 688, according data from oilfield-services provider Baker Hughes released on Friday.
This marks the 14th week in a row with an increase.

Get the latest Oil WTI price here.

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