NEW YORK, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices advanced on Friday, underpinned by multiple tailwinds.

The West Texas Intermediate for March delivery added 62 cents to settle at 56.85 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery increased 50 cents to close at 59.34 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

"Besides 'soft' factors such as increased demand from investors in view of the pronounced price buoyancy, rising stock markets and economic optimism, the physical market is also looking increasingly tight," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Friday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, widely known as OPEC+, agreed in January to keep most oil production curbs in place from February to the end of March.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, pledged a voluntary oil production cut of 1 million barrels per day beyond the required OPEC+ quotas in these two months.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 1.0 million barrels during the week ending Jan. 29, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday.

For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark jumped 8.9 percent, while Brent gained 7.8 percent, based on front-month contracts. Enditem

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