Oil prices climbed over 3% on Friday, rising to their highest level in 9 weeks as supply concerns and technical buying outweighed fears that further interest rate hikes could lead to slow economic growth and reduced oil demand.

Brent Crude futures increased by 2.6% to $78.47 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) gained nearly 3% to $73.86 per barrel.

This was the highest close for the Brent contract since May 1 and WTI since May 24. For the week, both benchmarks gained around 5%.

Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group, said,” We’re knocking on the door of a major breakout to the upside. I think you’re seeing some short covering here today because a lot of people have been betting on the short side,”

Top oil exporters such as Saudi Arabia and Russia announced fresh output cuts this week, bringing total reductions by OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, to around 5 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 5% of global oil demand.