NEW YORK, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rallied on Friday as the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil declined after two straight weeks of gains.
The number of rigs operating in U.S. oil fields decreased by eight to a total of 877 rigs this week, oilfield service firm Baker Hughes said in its weekly report on Friday.
The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also fell by eight to 1,075, according to Baker Hughes.
The prices were also boosted by signs of output reductions among major oil producers.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped 32.68 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, down 460,000 bpd from November and the largest month-on-month drop since January 2017, said a Reuters survey on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a separate survey by the Bloomberg showed oil output from OPEC fell 530,000 barrels a day to 32.6 million a day in December, the sharpest pullback since January 2017.
The West Texas Intermediate for February delivery gained 0.87 U.S. dollar to settle at 47.96 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery increased 1.11 dollar to close at 57.06 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
