Oil prices fell more than 2 percent on Friday, paring the previous session's spike as the market discounted an unexpected slump in US crude inventories as a storm glitch.
Still, the market was on course to gain nearly 5 percent, its first weekly gain in three weeks, on hopes for a global deal on stabilizing crude output after Saudi Arabia, the leading oil producer inside OPEC, and Russia, the biggest producer outside the group, agreed on Monday to cooperate in oversupplied markets.
Brent crude was down $1.35 at $48.64 a barrel by 11:52 a.m. ET (1552 GMT) after rising above $50 for the first time in two weeks on Thursday. US crude was down $1.16 at $46.46.
Oil prices shot up on Thursday after US government data showed the biggest weekly drop in stockpiles last week since January 1999 as Gulf Coast imports slumped to the lowest on record. Traders said imports fell as ships delayed offloading cargoes in Texas and Louisiana due to Tropical Storm Hermine.
"We're pulling back after the big run-up yesterday. We're expecting supplies to rise next week as production is back up after the storm in the Gulf of Mexico," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
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