Oil prices inched higher, helped by late-day buying in a low-volume session to close out the week.
Volumes were light on the last trading day before the Christmas holiday.
U.S West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up 11 cents to US$48.23 a barrel, while Brent crude futures settled 9 cents higher at US$51.29.
The market built gains overnight as Britain and the European Union reached a post-Brexit trade deal, reversed those gains, and then rebounded during the U.S. session to end modestly higher.
With Oil prices trading in the highs of US$50 a Barrel, an Economist Dr. Patrick Chileshe recently told Money FM News in an interview that increasing Oil Prices will have a negative impact on Zambia’s cost of energy, because the country is a net import dependent of the commodity.
This week, U.S. crude fell 1.6% while Brent lost 2%