"The level of $45-50 (per barrel) is acceptable from the point of view of market balance: if prices go higher shale oil production could start to recover."

Oil-producing countries can come to an agreement capping crude production at January levels even if Iran doesn’t join the move to help shore up prices.

Oil at $35 a barrel is neither too high nor too low but just right to make shares of U.S. explorers worth buying, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The cumulative effect suggests that for U.S. growth over the next three years, there's no difference between oil at $30 or $70 per barrel. How the trade balance responds to swings in crude will dictate which path is more desirable.

State-run Saudi Arabian Oil Co. increased its official selling price for May Light, Medium and Heavy sales to U.S. buyers by 40 cents a barrel, the company said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday. Extra Light crude will sell at a premium of $2.60 a barrel to the regional benchmark, 75 cents higher than the differential in April. For the U.S., the benchmark is the Argus Sour Crude Index.

Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading at $38.02 per barrel at 0653 GMT, up 76 cents, or 2 percent, from their last close. International Brent futures were up 60 cents at $40.03 a barrel.

Mexico's proven oil and gas reserves dropped 21.3 percent in 2015, the oil regulator said on Thursday, as the state-run oil company, Pemex, cut back on investment because of plunging crude prices.

Prices, which have swung between highs of about $42 a barrel and lows of about $27 this year, will continue to be volatile in the short term, Al Jaber said in an interview with Abu Dhabi dailies The National and Al Ittihad.

OPEC secondary sources put Iran's current output at 2.93 million barrels per day (bpd). It is working to regain market share, particularly in Europe, after the lifting of international sanctions in January. The sanctions had cut crude exports from a peak of 2.5 million bpd before 2011 to just over 1 million bpd in recent years.

Brazil’s troubled state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA on Friday announced a beefed up voluntary layoff program that could affect up to 12,000 jobs amid intense efforts to cut costs.