Oil prices lifted by strong US job data and Venezuela sanctions

Oil prices rose by about three per cent on Friday on the back of news that US job growth had been greater than expected, despite the government's month-long shutdown. 

The sanctions imposed on Venezuelan exports has also helped tighten supply, with the country's tankers stuck at ports. 

Brent crude oil rose $1.91 a barrel, or 3.14 per cent, to settle at $62.75 a barrel and ended the week with a gain of about 1.9 per cent. 

The WTI crude oil ended Friday at $55.26 a barrell, which was up 2.73 per cent or $1.47 a barrel, gaining about three per cent for the week. 

The price climbed to its highest of the day after General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm revelead that US energy firms had cut the number of oil rigs in operation for the a fourth week in the past five, bringing the total to its lowest since last June. 

Prices were also helped after Washington provided details on the sanctions against the Venezuela’s Petróleos de Venezuela SA. 

“We are beginning to see the impact to crude supplies from the sanctions on Venezuela. It has driven up domestic crude prices, cutting into refiner margins,” Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston, told Reuters.

“That, combined with Saudi cuts and Libyan production declines has changed market sentiment as we appear to be moving toward a better balanced supply situation.”