LONDON, Dec 26: Oil climbed above $36 a barrel on Friday after the United Arab Emirates joined leading crude exporter Saudi Arabia in deepening supply curbs in line with Opec’s biggest ever output cut announced last week.US crude gained 85 cents to $36.20 a barrel by 1552 GMT, off a session high of $36.90.

London Brent rose 58 cents to $37.19.

“The only positive news (for the market)... came from the UAE,” Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix wrote in a report. “For now at least, Saudi Arabia and the UAE seem to be fully complying with the cuts.”

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), the main producer in the UAE, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, said it would cut February supplies of Murban and Upper Zakum by 15 per cent and Lower Zakum and Umm Shaif by 10 per cent each.

A source with an Asian refiner said the ADNOC cuts were more than expected.

“ADNOC had already allocated January volumes, but they reversed the decision, so that messes up our schedule,” the source said. “For February, the reduction volumes are very large, so we may need to adjust our ship loadings.”

The allocations follow a decision last week by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reduce supplies by 2.2 million barrels per day.

Saudi Arabia informed its customers even before the Opec meeting they would be receiving less oil.

The Opec reduction is its deepest ever as the producer group battles a market slump that has sliced more than $110 off the price since a July peak above $147 a barrel.

Trading volume was thin on Friday after oil markets were closed on Thursday to mark Christmas Day.

On Wednesday, US crude had settled more than $3 lower after US inventory data showed a fall in crude stocks, but rises in inventories of refined products and another slowdown in fuel demand.

Negative economic data, including figures showing jobless claims in the United States, the world’s biggest oil burner, had risen to a 26-year high and that consumers had cut spending for the fifth consecutive month in November, deepened the bearishness.

Asian economies, once seen as a guarantee of high oil demand even if the United States faltered, have not escaped.—Reuters