HOUSTON, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices recorded strong gains for the week ending Dec. 6, with the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery up 7.30 percent and Brent crude oil for February delivery up 3.14 percent.

WTI closed the week at 59.20 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude finished the week at 64.39 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

WTI and Brent crude prices have increased 30.37 percent and 19.68 percent, respectively, so far this year, falling from their peak levels in April when the growth of WTI hit over 40 percent, and Brent crude over 30 percent.

Both benchmarks reached their highest levels since June, boosted by the prospect of further supply cuts by the world's major oil producers as well as robust Chinese manufacturing data and a hefty drop in U.S. crude stocks.

The prices kept going up during the week, except Tuesday when the features ended on a mixed note as traders awaited a meeting by the world's major oil producers to see their next move on output cuts.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) met on Thursday in Vienna, followed by a meeting on Friday with its allies. The organization and its allies agreed to steepen production cuts by an additional 500,000 barrels a day, bringing the total cuts to 1.7 million barrels daily.

This additional adjustment would be effective as of Jan. 1, 2020 and is subject to full conformity by every participating country. The OPEC, Russia and other producers have been largely limiting oil output since 2017 in order to boost prices.

Meanwhile, newly-released data showed expansion in China's manufacturing sector last month, which suggested stronger demand, also lending some support to the market.

In particular on Wednesday, the benchmarks surged on a report which showed a hefty drop in U.S. crude stocks. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 4.856 million barrels from the previous week, more than the market expected drop of 1.734 million barrels, implying greater demand and bullish for crude prices.

Oil prices have kept gaining momentum since the start of the year due to some geopolitical concerns and the OPEC's decision of production cut. However, the momentum has slowed down, mainly because of the concerns over downturn in demand for crude oil.

The slower economic growth of the world will lead to less demand for oil, which in turn would put downward pressure on oil prices.

Moreover, a rising U.S. dollar in the past months has dragged down the greenback-denominated crude futures as the U.S. Dollar Index has been keeping uptrend since mid-2018, although the dollar index finished the week ending Dec. 6 lower. Analysts believed the index is set to remain under bearish pressure below the 98.00/98.20 price zone.

For the coming week, the market will further digest information about future supply cut. Meanwhile, investors will continue to pay close attention to signs of progress on a U.S.-China trade deal. The U.S.-China trade negotiations continue to drive market sentiment. Enditem

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