oil prices: Oil prices rise as concerns about oversupply

TOKYO: Oil prices gained on Friday after Saudi Arabia's opec governor said the kingdom is likely to fall into the third quarter.

Brent oil rose 22 cents, gold 0.3 per cent, to $ 72.80 by 0034 GMT, after falling 32 cents on Thursday.

US West Texas Intermediate was up 51 cents, or 0.7 percent, at $ 69.97, extending to 1 percent gain in the previous session.

However, both benchmarks are on track for a third weekly loss, after big falls early in the week.

Prices have been dragged down by concerns about oversupply and some production returned after outages, while trade voltages have stoked fears of damage to economies and commodities.

Saudi Arabia moved on Thursday to allay fears of oversupply.

The world's biggest oil exporter expects its crude shipments to drop by about 100,000 barrels per day in the market.

"Despite the international oil markets, it is still strong in the second half," Al-Aama said in a statement.

He also said that Saudi Arabia and its partners are moving to substantially oversupply the market "without basis".