Crude oil and refined product futures prices were all rising for a second day Friday morning, putting contracts on track for a second day of gains.

Prices were being supported by ongoing protests in Iran that have raised concerns about possible disruption of that country’s oil exports as well as release of federal jobs data that was helping send equity markets higher.

U.S. crude prices were up by nearly 3% at 11:30 a.m. ET, with February West Texas Intermediate crude rising by $1.80 to $59.56/bbl, about $2.30 above last week’s settlement. March WTI was up $1.73 to $59.37/bbl.

March Brent crude was up by $1.71 to $63.70/bbl while April prices were moving higher by $1.62 to $63.11/bbl. Brent prices are nearly $3 above last week’s finish.

Diesel prices, which saw sharp losses earlier in the week, were on track for a second day of solid gains, with February prices rising by 4.45cts, or 2%, to $2.164/gal, up about 4.7cts from last Friday. March prices were 4.38cts in the black to $2.1552/gal.

February RBOB futures were also about 2% higher, rising by 3.58cts to $1.7961/gal. March prices added 3.9cts to $1.8204/gal.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday reported nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 50,000 jobs in December, which was lower than expected. But the unemployment rate fell to 4.4%, lower than had been anticipated.

Equity markets rose in the wake of the mixed report, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 0.4% and the NASDAQ Composite ahead by 0.6%.

Markets are also watching for the outcome of a meeting Friday between President Trump and U.S. oil executives as part of administration efforts to increase U.S. operations in Venezuela. Venezuela was also in the news as the U.S. Coast Guard seized another oil tanker as it enforced U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan exports.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

-Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com ; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-09-26 1236ET