Oil rises

Reuters

Singapore

Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by a fall in Saudi exports to the United States, but overall markets remained under pressure on the back of a world market awash with fuel.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were at $50.65 per barrel at 0633 GMT, up 9 cents from their last close.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 15 cents at $47.85 a barrel.

Brent was heading for a weekly fall of about 2.1 percent, while WTI was off about 1.9 percent.

Traders said the increase came as Saudi Arabia said its crude exports to the United States would fall by around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) between February and March.

In the United States, overseas oil suppliers like Saudi Arabia have to compete against rising shale drilling, which has pushed up U.S. oil production by more than 8 percent since mid-2016 to just above 9.1 million bpd.