Oil futures settled modestly higher Friday and logged a weekly gain on the back of expectations that output cuts by major producers will continue to chip away at global oversupply. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, March West Texas Intermediate tacked on 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $53.83 a barrel. WTI notched a weekly gain of about 0.7%. The gain for oil came as the Baker Hughes report revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 17 to 583 rigs this week, a third straight weekly gain. Investors were also weighing news of fresh U.S. sanctions on oil-producer Iran. But those sanctions aren’t expected to put limits on its crude exports.
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