Falling dollar support oil prices

Oil prices have risen due to the weakening US dollar, which keeps the prices close to the previous day's high.

The dollar began to lose ground after the release of data on US retail sales, which showed a flat trend in July, contrary to the expectations.

Quotes of oil holds near 3-week intraday high after the day intentions of Saudi Arabia to cooperate with other oil-producing countries to stabilize prices was made public.

Saudi Minister of Energy Khaled Al-Falih said Thursday that, together with other members of OPEC and oil-producing countries that are not members of the cartel, "will take any steps to help" the oil market. His statements were perceived by some as a sign of readiness to support the coordinated production limitation.

However, many traders and analysts are skeptical about the willingness of Saudi Arabia to restrict production, as the volume of oil production in the country in July has reached record levels.

"It does not look like the action of a country that is going to stop the fight for market share".

OPEC said that next month will hold a meeting in Algeria. In April this year a meeting of oil-producing countries to discuss the possibility of production constraints, failed.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets believe that OPEC countries are unlikely to make any real steps. "The action plan is likely to be purely symbolic and aimed rather at changing market sentiment than any real action".

On Thursday, the International Energy Agency reported that abundant world oil reserves may be reduced in the second half of the year, as production has not kept pace with demand.

Traders also await weekly data from Baker Hughes oilfield on the number of rigs operating in the USA. This index has shown growth for several consecutive weeks, giving rise to concerns about the fact that oil prices are already high enough to lead to production growth in the United States and preserve the excess supply in the market. Energy Information Administration recently raised its forecast for oil production in the country for the current and next year.

The cost of the September futures on US light crude oil WTI rose to 44.17 dollars per barrel.

September futures price for North Sea petroleum mix of Brent crude rose to 46.66 dollars a barrel on the London Stock Exchange ICE Futures Europe.