Brent crude for February delivery LCOc1 was up 12 cents at $54.01 a barrel by 0752 GMT, after rising 1.7 percent on Thursday. The contract hit its highest since July 2015 at $55.33 on Monday. U.S. crude for January delivery CLc1 was up 32 cents at $51.16 a barrel. Both contracts have lost nearly 1 percent so far this week.

OPEC crude oil production for November rose for the sixth straight month, to a record 33.86 million b/d.

North Sea Brent crude was up 25 cents at $53.25 a barrel by 0940 GMT. U.S. light crude was up 20 cents at $49.97 a barrel.

North Sea Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 10 cents a barrel at $54.03 by 0950 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was up 15 cents at $51.08 a barrel.

International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $54.83 per barrel at 1127 GMT, down 11 cents from Monday's close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $51.50 a barrel, down 29 cents.

Brent crude oil futures LCOc1, the global benchmark used to trade oil, soared to its highest since July 6, 2015 to $55.20 a barrel. It last traded at $55.08 a barrel, up 62 cents, or 1.1 percent, at 0946 GMT. WTI crude oil CLc1 traded up 54 cents, or 1 percent, at $52.22 a barrel.

Front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 45 cents, or 0.8 percent by 0951 GMT (4:51 a.m. ET) from their last settlement at $53.49 per barrel. The contract was up more than 13 percent this week, its biggest gain since March 2009. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 were at $50.68, down 38 cents.

For China’s beleaguered oil sector, a deal by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output could offer a lifeline to an industry that has been hammered by low prices—and may also hasten its shift away from a heavy reliance on Saudi crude.

Shares in US oil companies soared on Wednesday as Opec ministers meeting in Vienna agreed a plan to cut output by 1.2m barrels per day. “The biggest beneficiaries from this Opec move are the US shale players,” said Mike Kelly, head of exploration and production company research at Seaport Global Securities.

OPEC in its 171st ordinary meeting on Wednesday, November 30, agreed to Iran's share of 3.9 million barrels per day in its total output.