Investing.com - Crude oil prices were nearly flat in Asia on Friday as strong Chinese trade data failed to lift the market and investors looked ahead to US weekly rig count figures.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange crude futures for January delivery was flat at $56.69 a barrel, while on London's Intercontinental Exchange, Brent edged up 0.05% to $62.23 a barrel.
China's trade balance hit $40.21 billion in November, official data on Friday showed, wider than the $35 billion expected while imports jumped 17.7%, surpassing an 11.3% gain seen and exports rose 12.3%, better than the 5.0% gain expected.
China yuan trade figures showed January to November crude imports up 12% to 386 million metric tons, while November crude oil imports reached 36.92 million metric tons.
China also reported natural gas imports for November hit record 6.4 million metric tons and for January to November rose 26.5% to 60.7 million metric tons.
Overnight, crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday as a threatened strike in Nigeria and growing Middle East political tensions stoked fears of supply disruptions, while ongoing OPEC-led output curbs supported sentiment.
One of Nigeria’s two main oil unions on Thursday threatened to launch a nationwide strike from Dec. 18 should the government fail to force the management of domestic oil and gas companies to recall laid-off union members.
That added to fears of potential supply disruptions in the wake of growing Middle East political tensions after Saudi Arabia called for a review of US President Donald Trump’s decision to direct the State Department to begin preparations to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The rebound in oil prices comes a day after crude settled nearly 3% lower on data showing US inventories of refined fuel rose sharply last week, pointing to possible weakness in demand. The uptick in gasoline supplies offset a larger-than-expected draw in crude stockpiles which fell for a third straight week, while U.S. crude production rose to a weekly record.
US oil production rose to its highest since the early 1980s as data US producers ramp up production to 9.7 million barrels per day last week. day last week.
Sentiment on crude oil remained bullish as market participants continue to expect output-led production curbs would rein in excess global supplies to OPEC’s five year-average.