West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude oil prices rose Friday, after positive U.S. jobs data strengthened expectations for higher fuel demand, plus signs U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan exports helped tighten supply.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures ended Friday’s trading session up $1.47, or 2.7%, to $55.26 a barrel, Kallanish Energy reports. WTI posted a weekly gain of nearly 3%.

Brent crude futures rose $1.91 a barrel, or 3.1%, to $62.75/Bbl at roughly 2:30 p.m. ET. The international benchmark was on track for a weekly gain of about 2%.

Oil prices earlier got a boost from Wall Street after surprisingly strong U.S. job growth data fed demand for equities.

Washington imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) last week, keeping tankers stuck at ports.

Some U.S. refiners have begun reducing crude processing as the sanctions have boosted oil costs and as gasoline margins fell to their lowest in nearly a decade, market sources told Reuters.

In January, Saudi Arabia pumped 350,000 barrels per day less than in December, a Reuters survey showed. Supply in November had hit a record-high 11 million Bpd (Mmbpd).

Many analysts believe the oil market will be more balanced in 2019 after supply cuts from the Opec and a number of non-Opec producer-countries, led by Russia, combined agreed to cut 1.2 Mmbpd from world production in 2019.

Still, U.S. output is the highest on record, raising expectations of abundant supply. U.S. crude production rose to a new high of 11.9 Mmbpd in November, the Energy Information Administration reported Thursday.

This post appeared first on Kallanish Energy News.