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By Bloomberg

Oil headed for a 10th weekly gain, the longest rising streak since trading started in 1983, amid signs that the U.S. crude stockpile glut is easing.

Futures were little changed in New York, poised for a 1.5 percent advance since May 15. Crude supplies fell for a third week for the longest run of declines since September, according to government data. OPEC will continue to favor market share over prices when it meets next month because rival producers are already starting to buckle, a Bloomberg survey shows.

Oil has rebounded from a six-year low amid speculation a cut in the number of U.S. drilling rigs will curb output and trim the surplus. While stockpiles remain near the highest level in 85 years and 100 million barrels above the five-year average for this time of year, crude is trading above $60 a barrel.

“The third consecutive decline in U.S. stockpiles suggests there is a little bit of tightening in the market,” Jonathan Barratt, the chief investment officer at Ayers Alliance Securities in Sydney, said by phone. “The $60 area is a big level and I think it’s going to hang around here, I don’t see anything on the horizon yet to push it too much either way.”

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery was at $60.56 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 16 cents, at 11:44 a.m. Singapore time. The contract gained 3 percent to $60.72 on Thursday. The volume of all futures traded was about 65 percent below the 100-day average. Prices are up about 14 percent this year.

U.S. Supplies

Brent for July settlement slid 16 cents to $66.38 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract rose $1.51 to $66.54 on Thursday. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $5.81 to WTI.

Crude stockpiles in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil user, shrank by 2.67 million barrels to 482.16 million through May 15, according to the Energy Information Administration. Supplies remain near the highest level since 1930, based on monthly records dating back to 1920.

Output fell by 112,000 barrels a day to 9.262 million a day because of a drop in production from Alaska, the EIA reported May 20. U.S. drillers have reduced the number of active rigs by 58 percent since December after prices slumped last year, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc.

WTI will probably extend price gains next week, according to a Bloomberg survey of analysts.

OPEC Strategy

Saudi Arabia, the biggest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, shaped the strategy of defending market share at a meeting in November, arguing that the usual response of cutting output to boost prices would not address the threat from shale and other higher-cost suppliers.

All but one of the 34 analysts and traders in a separate Bloomberg survey said OPEC will maintain its daily quota of 30 million barrels when it meets in Vienna on June 5. The 12-member group supplies about 40 percent of the world’s oil.