Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 73 cents to $46.62 a barrel by 1052 GMT, having rallied from a session low of $45.74, while U.S. crude prices CLc1 rose 54 cents to $45.02 a barrel.

“While the oil market has recovered from its most severe period, it’s still weak,” Nasser said.

“The kingdom is looking for consensus among oil producers to reach a credible arrangement for stabilising oil markets,” a Saudi official said on Friday. “We are looking at different scenarios and options to reaching this goal.”

Russia's oil taxes are already among the highest in the world.

“We expect global spending in the oil and gas sector will reach its nadir in 2016 , returning to growth in 2017,” Christopher Haines, BMI’s head of oil and gas research, said in the report. “For now, we see stronger growth in capital expenditure in 2018 , as better forecast oil prices are building confidence behind spending outlooks.”

An analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that the natural gas revolution generated more than 4.3 million jobs and injected nearly half a trillion dollars into the economy. It also determined that all those jobs would have been lost had the so-called “Keep it in the Ground” movement succeeded in suffocating the oil revolution.

U.S. Rig Count is down 327 rigs from last year's count of 838, with oil rigs down 223, gas rigs down 105, and miscellaneous rigs up 1. Canadian Rig Count is down 38 rigs from last year's count of 176, with oil rigs up 11, gas rigs down 49, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0.

Iraq, along with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Russia has increased output to historic highs over the past year to fight for market share with higher-cost producers such as the United States where production has been falling back due to low oil prices.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 were trading at $45.81 per barrel at 0301 GMT (11:01 p.m. EDT), up 47 cents, or 1 percent, from their previous close. The contract had already gained as much as 3 percent the day before. International benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 were also up, gaining 48 cents, or 1 percent, from their last close to $47.31 per barrel.

In Saudi Arabia, Saipem has been awarded an extension of three years to drilling activities being carried out by ten 2000 HP drilling rigs. In South America, in addition to various extensions ranging in duration from two to twenty-four months for medium and high power rigs in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile, Saipem has also been awarded a new contract for operations in Argentina, which will be carried out by an hydraulic type rig over a period of eighteen months.