Oil rises

Singapore

Oil edged up on Friday, recovering some of its steep falls earlier in the week, but crude is still set for its worst first-half decline in two decades despite ongoing production cuts.

Brent crude futures were at $45.33 per barrel at 0647 GMT, up 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 9 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $42.83 per barrel.

Oil prices have fallen about 20 percent this year despite an effort led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut production by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) that has been in place since January.  That´s the worst first-half performance for crude oil since 1997, when rising output and the Asian financial crisis led to sharp price falls.

Prices are also still down around 15 percent since OPEC extended on May 25 its cuts to cover the first quarter of 2018 instead of expiring at the end of this month.