TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Global crude oil prices continue its climb on Friday morning, Jakarta time, after reserve figures indicate that the overabundance of crude oil in the U.S. has begun to correct itself as a result of the continued depreciation of the greenback against the U.S. dollar.

June contracts for the U.S. benchmark—the light sweet crude oil or the West Texas Intermediate (WTI)—went up by US$1.05 to close at US$59.63 per barrel at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Meanwhile, June contracts for the European benchmark—the Brent North Sea oil—also rose by 94 cents to close at US$66.78 per barrel in London.

Analysts are saying that commodities broker are still reacting to the recent reserve figures released by the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday, which showed a 500,000 barrel decline in U.S. oil reserves, which currently stands at 61.7 million barrel in Cushing, Oklahoma—the main trading terminal for crude oil in the U.S.

The moderate decline marks the first such decrease since late in November 2014. Traders are saying that the decline is caused by the decision of several major oil producers in the U.S. to scale back their production in order to keep prices at a healthy level—including major exploration companies in strategic locations such as in Bakken, North Dakota.

"Oil prices need and will go up, considering what had happened in the oil market in the past few weeks," said an analyst for Commerzbank.

Crude oil prices are also boosted by the fact that the U.S. dollar is currently depreciating against the euro and several other major world currencies—in light of the recently released economic performance figures for the first quarter (Q1) of 2015—which shows that the world's largest economy only grew by 0.2 percent.

The greenback is also not being helped by the fact that the U.S. Federal Reserve has decided to maintain its low fund rate policy, especially considering the absence of positive economic growth indicators.

It is known that a weak U.S. dollar will drive the consumption of crude oil up, because crude oil is bought and sold in U.S. dollars—making it cheaper to buy when the greenback is under-performing.

ANTARA