International Benchmark Brent crude traded at $73.87 per barrel at 15.13 GMT+2 while American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) saw prices of $68.69 per barrel on Friday.
Brent crude increased to over $75 per barrel on Monday and saw as low as $72.59 per barrel on Thursday over uncertainty on whether the U.S. will pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal.
Under a deal signed in 2015, the U.S. and other world powers agreed to lift some of the economic sanctions imposed against Iran in return for the latter agreeing to rein in its nuclear program.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly called the pact 'one of the worst negotiated agreements' he has ever seen. He has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the deal and has to make a decision on whether he will do so by the May 12 deadline.
- U.S. crude oil production increases
The rise in U.S. crude oil production is one reason for the fall in oil prices, however, prices stood at around $73 per barrel due to the U.S.' uncertainty over the withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.
The U.S.' crude oil production increased last week for the 15th time in the past 16 weeks, according to the country's Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on Wednesday.
Crude oil output rose by 33,000 barrels per day (bpd) to reach 10.62 million bpd for the week ending April 27, the EIA data showed.
Production of crude oil rose by 8,000 bpd to 509,000 bpd in the state of Alaska, and it increased by 25,000 bpd to 10.11 million bpd in the rest of the country, according to the data.
By Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
energy.com.tr