U.S. Rig Count is down 271 rigs from last year's count of 795, with oil rigs down 177, gas rigs down 95, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is down 15 rigs from last year's count of 180, with oil rigs up 13, and gas rigs down 28.

Brent LCOc1 traded at $52.11 at 1000 GMT, 40 cents down, after touching $52.84 earlier, two cents below the 2016 high. U.S. oil futures traded as high as $50.74 a barrel, a three and a half month high, before falling by 30 cents to $50.14 a barrel. On Thursday they settled at $50.44 per barrel - the first settlement above $50 since June 23.

Last week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut between 200,000 barrels a day and 700,000 barrels a day of their output to reduce a global oil glut. The 14-nation oil-producing group controls over a third of the world’s oil production, but said it also wanted non-OPEC producers to join the effort to curb output.

The court judgment released on Wednesday found that the companies owed nearly 484 billion CFA francs in royalties to the Chadian government. It did not explain why the penalties amounted to more than 90 times that amount.

If Nigeria and Libya restore production, the kingdom may need to cut twice as much. U.S. shale drillers also stand ready to fill any supply gap.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $49.22 per barrel at 0649 GMT, up 53 cents, or 1.1 percent, from their last settlement. In international oil markets, benchmark Brent crude was trading at $51.38 per barrel, up 51 cents, or 1.0 percent.

Paolo Scaroni, the former chief executive of Italy’s Eni SpA, said Iran is able to pump as much as 4.1 million to 4.2 million barrels daily.

Russian oil production continuing its slow climb for at least the next five years.

Managing director of National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ali Kardor said Iran will not cease to achieve the targeted crude oil output of 4 million barrels per day.

The two bonds, valued at USD 2 billion each and issued in a financial operation that started early in September, will carry maturities of seven and close to 31 years. They pay yields of 4.62% and 6.75%, respectively, according to Pemex CFO Juan Pablo Newman. Now with greater maturity, Pemex’s repurchased debt, which was due to mature in 2018 and 2019, has reduced the risks of the company’s debt portfolio.