Oil prices recorded their largest one-day drop in two weeks on Thursday, with expectations building that OPEC will end an output deal that has been in place since the start of 2017 due to concerns about supplies from Venezuela and Iran. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may decide in June to lift output to make up for reduced supply from Iran and Venezuela and in response to concerns from Washington about a rally in oil prices, OPEC and oil industry sources told Reuters. Click Read More below for additional information.

Oil prices rose on Friday after the Saudi energy minister said OPEC would need to keep coordinating supply cuts with non-member countries including Russia into 2019. Oil’s rise defied a slump in global stock markets, which fell in response to worries about a trade stand-off between the United States and China. Gold XAU=, seen as a safe haven, hit a two-week high. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $69.10 per barrel at 1136 GMT, up 19 cents but off a session high of $70. For the week, Brent was up about 4.4 percent, its strongest showing since October. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $64.57 a barrel, up 27 cents but below a session high of $65.42. On the week, WTI was up about 3.6 percent.

Futures climbed as much as 1.7 percent in New York, paring Wednesday’s 4.1 percent loss. Crude and gasoline inventories both dropped by more than by 5.5 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report. Government data Thursday is also forecast to show supplies fell. Oil remains in a bear market amid concerns that rising supply from Libya to the U.S. will counter production cuts from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners including Russia. American crude stockpiles are more than 100 million barrels above the five-year average. Click Read More below for additional detail.