Oil futures end higher, even as talk of a possible OPEC+ output increase grows

Oil futures settled higher on Friday, with U.S. prices up more than 3% for the week, buoyed by expectations for higher oil demand, even amid growing expectations that OPEC+ will decide to extend production increases when it meets next week. Even if OPEC+ agrees to raise output in August, "it may prove insufficient to meet the anticipated rise in demand," said Marshall Steeves, energy markets analyst at IHS Markit. "Global stocks have already been tightening and that is now also true in the U.S.," he said. West Texas Intermediate oil for August delivery CLQ21, +0.95% climbed by 75 cents, or 1%, to settle at $74.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Based on the front-month contracts, prices settled at their highest since October 2018, up 3.9% for the week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.