NEW YORK, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices increased on Friday, as the market was buoyed by a surge in U.S. employment last month and Russia's fulfillment to production cut as pledged in a deal between OPEC and its allies.
U.S. total non-farm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in April, and the unemployment rate declined to 3.6 percent, said the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Thursday, pointing to further backup to the U.S. economic growth.
The sharp increase in job growth occurred in professional and business services, construction, health care, and social assistance.
Russia has reached full conformity as of the end of April with the output cut pact inked December, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday.
The OPEC and non-OPEC producers had agreed to slash crude oil production by a total of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) starting January 2019 for an initial period of six months.
At the end of April, Russia reduced its oil production by 229,000 bpd excluding output under the Production Sharing Agreements (PSA) and 223,000 bpd including PSA, Novak said.
The West Texas Intermediate for June delivery rose 0.13 U.S. dollar to settle at 61.94 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery increased 0.10 dollar to close at 70.85 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem
