Falling rig count, US GDP growth lift crude futures

摘要

New York—Crude futures rose Friday on a combination of US economic expansion and reduced oil drilling activity. NYMEX November crude settled 79 cents higher at $45.70/b. ICE November Brent settled up 43 cents at $48.60/b. The front-month ICE Brent/WTI spread narrowed Friday after having widened since Tuesday. The spread was as tight as $2.59/b and in the afternoon was trading around $2.97/b, compared with Thursday’s settle of $3.26/b.