The minister "has affirmed the need to proceed forth with increasing oil and gas production through enhancing the national effort and those of the licensed companies for the remainder of 2016 and also for 2017," the statement said.

The worldwide rig count for September 2016 was 1,584, up 37 from the 1,547 counted in August 2016, and down 587 from the 2,171 counted in September 2015.

Baker Hughes Inc., the services company that tracks drilling activity worldwide, said just 27 rigs operated last month in the North Sea, the lowest number since records started in January 1982. The previous low was set in October 1999, when oil prices plunged to $10 a barrel.

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.