Oil Gains For The Day, Falls For The Week; Natural Gas Tallies Weekly Rise Of 7.5%

Oil rose Friday, as a modest rise in the U.S. oil-rig count from Baker Hughes fueled expectations that drilling activity has stabilized. Prices had traded lower for much of the session, and still lost roughly 1.5% for the week on lingering concerns over the global glut of crude supplies. Natural gas, meanwhile, tallied a weekly gain of 7.5%--the biggest such rise of the year--after U.S. supplies rose less than expected. September WTI crude climbed 23 cents, or 0.5%, to settle $48.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September natural gas settled nearly flat for the session at $2.983 per million British thermal units.