FX.co ★ Oil Futures Settle Lower For The Session, But Post 3rd Straight Weekly Gain

Crude oil prices fell on Friday, due largely on profit taking after recent gains, but posted a weekly rise.

The dollar's modest recovery from lower levels too weighed a bit on oil prices.

West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.47 or about 1.9% at $75.42 a barrel. WTI Crude futures gained about 2% in the week, after having surged 4.6% and 2.1% in the previous two weeks.

Brent crude futures settled at $79.87 a barrel, down $1.49 or about 1.8%. Brent crude futures gained about 2% in the week.

A report from Baker Hughes showed the total number of total active drilling rigs in the U.S. fell by 5 this week, after a 6-rig increase last week.

The total rig count fell to 675 this week. The number of oil rigs declined by 3 this week to 537, while the number of gas rigs fell by 2, to 133.