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The last couple of days have seen a great deal of volatility in oil prices on mixed news and events.

An uptrend in oil prices came as news of OPEC member Nigeria, the largest oil exporter in Africa, is potentially facing oil workers' strike later this month. However, this morning, it looks like the strike is suspended after the oil workers met with the country's petroleum minister. The country's oil production has been fluctuating due to unrest in the country and until the November OPEC meeting, Nigeria was exempt from the current oil production cut agreement. Also supporting oil prices was Chinese crude imports in November reached near-record level of 9.01 mio. barrels per day.

OPEC members' oil production in November declined by 220,000 barrels per day in November compared to October to a total of 32.35 mio. barrels per day..

Turning to economic data, overnight, upbeat Chinese trade activity data was released. Japanese GDP also came out higher than expected. This afternoon, the U.S. jobs report is published, expect some volatility in the financial markets which could spill over to the oil market. Next week, the U.S. central bank, Fed has a two-day meeting followed by a press release. Eyes will be on a potential interest rate hike decision.

Tonight, the weekly oil rig count from Baker Hughes will be followed closely for hints of increased rig activity in the U.S. The last 3 of 4 weeks have shown increases in the number of active drilling rigs.