London: Crude oil prices rose more than 1 per cent on Friday after US inventories fell for a fourth straight week, although prices were set for a weekly drop on a stronger dollar.

Oil saw steep falls earlier this week as a resurgent dollar weighed on the market amid concerns US crude supplies may have started rising again after three weeks of draws.

North Sea Brent crude has shed more than 3 per cent this week, its second straight weekly loss, while US crude is set to end a record weekly winning streak with a loss of more than 2 per cent.

July Brent was up 90 cents at $63.48 a barrel by 1140 GMT. US crude, also known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI, reached an intraday high of $58.72 a barrel, up $1.04, before easing back to trade around $58.60.

US inventory data and wildfires in Canada, which knocked out 10 per cent of its oil sands output, also supported prices.

Data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday showed crude oil inventories fell by 2.8 million barrels last week, down for the fourth week ahead of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, which unofficially kicked off the peak summer driving season in the United States.

The fall in US crude stocks in the EIA data was more than the 857,000-barrel draw forecast in a Reuters survey and in contrast with a build of 1.3 million barrels estimated by the American Petroleum Institute.

“The global supply imbalance is set to persist into the second half of 2015, but pressure to store in the US is likely to taper off over the summer,” Barclays analysts said in a note.

Oversupply in oil markets outside the United States gives little room for a rise in spot prices, analysts say.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meets next week to agree policy for the next six months and is widely expected to maintain a collective production target of 30 million barrels per day (bpd).

The cartel’s output is more than 1 million bpd above this level and demand for its oil is much lower — leaving a huge supply surplus, estimated by some analysts at more than 2 million bpd.

“That should keep a lid on prices,” said Carsten Fritsch, senior oil and commodities analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.

Analysts at French bank Societe Generale agreed, seeing “no chance” of a change in Opec production policy next week.