By Sarah McFarlane and Dan Molinski 
   -- U.S. oil prices ended flat Friday but sharply lower for the week after an 
      earlier selling frenzy amid worries of a global surplus of crude oil and 
      weaker demand. 
 
   -- Light, sweet crude for December delivery ended unchanged at $56.46 a 
      barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, U.S. prices 
      ended 6.2% lower. 
 
   -- Brent crude rose 0.2% to $66.76 a barrel. 

HIGHLIGHTS

U.S. oil stocks: Inventories of crude in the U.S. rose by 10.3 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 9, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. The build was offset, however, by draws to product stocks including gasoline and distillate.

Oil rig-count: A weekly report from Baker Hughes on Friday showed the number of active, oil-directed drilling rigs in the U.S. rose by two in the latest week to 888, the highest total since March 2015. The data reinforce the notion that U.S. drilling and production are likely to keep growing robustly even with U.S. oil output already at a record-high 11.7 million barrels a day, according to weekly EIA data.

INSIGHT

Bear market: Oil prices entered a bear market last week after a combination of factors -- including some sanctions relief to select Iranian oil buyers, revisions upward to U.S. output and a weakening outlook for demand growth -- fueled fears of excess supply. Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced waivers for eight countries to temporarily continue importing some volumes of Iranian oil. "I think both the size and scale of the waivers did take the market by surprise," said Caroline Bain, an economist at consulting firm Capital Economics, adding that the announcement was a catalyst for the latest price slump.

OPEC: Analysts are expecting the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will agree to cut output at their meeting in December to stabilize the market and prevent a supply surplus due to signs of weakening demand, and the softening of U.S. sanctions on Iran. "The waivers will effectively prop up a good chunk of Iran's exports," said Stewart Glickman, head of energy research of CFRA Research. "We think OPEC and partners such as Russia will feel compelled to agree on a sizable cut to production levels at OPEC's next meeting."

AHEAD

   -- The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, releases its weekly 
      report on U.S. oil inventories next Tuesday, while the EIA releases its 
      official inventory report on Wednesday. 

Write to Sarah McFarlane at sarah.mcfarlane@wsj.com and Dan Molinski at Dan.Molinski@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 16, 2018 15:52 ET (20:52 GMT)

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