Meanwhile, Venezuelan oil sales are a cash cow under U.S. control: File Image/Pixabay

Oil trading on Friday was steady but not vigorous enough to prevent a second consecutive weekly loss, as analysts weighed a slowdown in U.S. inflation against the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) possibly resuming output increases in April.

After traders learned that U.S. consumer prices increased less than expected last month as rental inflation lessened and gasoline prices declined, West Texas Intermediate settled up 5 cents at $62.89 per barrel; Brent settled up 23 cents at $67.75 per barrel.

For the week, Brent was headed for a 0.6 percent loss, and WTI 1.1 percent.

Prices fell earlier in the session when Reuters reported that partly due to the upcoming peak summer fuel demand and crude prices firming due to U.S./Iran hostilities, OPEC was considering a resumption in oil output increases from April.

Ole Hansen, analyst at Saxo Bank, was philosophical about the news: "OPEC's intentions on production changes always attract some attention, especially when it's not expected," he said.

Contributing to trading momentum was Russia, which announced that the next round of peace talks regarding Ukraine will take place next week.

Also influential was U.S. secretary of energy Chris Wright, who told media that Venezuelan oil sales supervised by Washington had totalled over $1 billion to date and would generate an additional $5 billion over the next few months.

As for geopolitical tensions, Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer of Century Financial, noted that, "The broader markets have been gripped by risk-off sentiment as the ongoing nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran are likely to drag on without a quick resolution,"

Valecha added that U.S. president Donald Trump "appears to be taking a more measured approach, allowing time for further discussions…this has tempered the possibility of short-run military action that could disrupt supplies."

In other oil news on Friday, the International Energy Agency once again dialled back its warnings of a global oversupply, citing early-2026 weather-related outages and the closure of Kazakhstan's Tengiz field as the reasons for an unexpected dip in global supply of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd).

The IEA's current 2026 outlook sees global oil production rising by 2.4 million bpd, down by 100,000 bpd from a month ago; the agency thinks demand will increase by only 850,000 bpd.