Oil prices end the week more than five per cent up and end on a 2019 high

Oil prices reached their highest this year after rising more than 2 per cent on Friday in the wake of an increase in expectations on the tightening supply caused by an outage at Saudi Arabia's offshore oilfield.

The progress made between the US and China in talks over their trade war also strengthened the position.

Brent crude oil rose 2.6 per cent to settle at $66.25, a rise of $1.68, marking its highest price since November last year.

US WTI futures crude oil settled up 2.2 per cent, or $1.18, at $55.59 a barrel, hitting its highest this year. 

Brent ended the week more then 6 per cent up, while WTI had also gained more than 5 per cent, thanks in part to the tightening supplies following the organisation of the petroleum exporting countries and its allies led by Russia started voluntary production cuts last month.

The world's largest offshore oilfield, Saudi Arabia's Safaniya, was partly closed around two weeks ago and the limit to its daily production of more than one million barrels has seen supply tighten further than expected. It is not clear when the field will return to full capacity.

Leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it would cut an additional half a million barrels per day in March more than it previously pledged.

While the sanctions on Venezuelan and Iranian crude, along with reduced Libyan output due to civil unrest, have further reduced global supply. 

Additionally, there has been growing confidence that the US and China will resolve their trade dispute, with talks set to resume in Washington next week.