NYMEX September light sweet crude......>

US OIL CLOSE: NYMEX September light sweet crude oil futures settled up $0.23 at

$48.82 per barrel, after trading in a $47.98 to $48.98 range.

- The front contract peaked Thursday at $50.22. This came after topping out at

$50.43 August 1 and $50.41 July 31, which was also the last time West Texas

Intermediate closed above the $50 mark.

- Risk aversion and a lack of topside followthrough, more so than a change in

oil fundamentals, has weighed on prices this week.

- Most recently, WTI topped out at $52.00 May 25, before the announcement of a

nine-month extension of OPEC/non-OPEC production cuts. The extension was largely

priced in and oil fell to $42.05 on June 21.

- Trading continued to be driven by supply rather than demand, with concern

about OPEC/non-OPEC non-compliance as well as increased U.S. production.

- Baker Hughes rig count data, released Friday, showed a three rig increase to

768 rigs for U.S. "oil-only" rigs in the week ending August 11. This is a bit

less than double the 396 rigs seen a year ago. However, rigs were still down

52.3% from the peak rig count of 1,609 rigs seen Oct. 10, 2014.