Mubasher: Oil prices increased in the week ended Friday due to investor’s fears regarding geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, especially after the recent US missile strikes in Syria.

The price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or (Nymex) futures went up by 3.2% to $52.24 per barrel (pb) compared to $50.60 pb in the week before.

Meanwhile, Brent Crude increased by 4.56% to $55.24 pb compared to $52.83 pb at the previous week’s close.

On 30 November, members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) reached an agreement to reduce daily production by 1.2 million barrels to 32.5 million barrels for a period of six months, staring from January 2017.

Last week, US oil rigs grew by 10 rigs to a total of 672 compared to 662 oil rigs in the previous week, according to a report by Baker Hughes.