Crude oil futures re-surged Friday bolstered by the volatility of the past days amid thin trading before US President’s day on February 21, explosions in Iraq and fears of OPEC cuts.

OPEC issued a report saying that global demand is bound to rise to 83.8 million barrels a day this year, which is 5% higher than the organization predicted earlier.

The explosion in Iran on Wednesday added to the fears that production in the country may suffer disruptions.
The signal that OPEC is contemplating a possible cut in supply came from the cartel’s acting Secretary-General Adnan Shihab-Eldin who said that OPEC might need to cut output for the second quarter even on stable demand and envisages a steeper cut if demand falters. However, the fellow OPEC members Nigeria and Algeria have said they envisage not major cuts are necessary.

U.S. crude oil stocks added 2.1 million barrels last week and were at the time 8.5% above last year’s levels, and gas inventories added 4.9 million barrels, a 7.4% surplus over the year-ago levels. The decrease in heating oil stocks, however, deepened concerns that an arctic air mass that is projected to hit U.S. Northeast this week may steep up demand when inventories remain tight.