By David Hodari and Amrith Ramkumar 

Oil prices edged higher Friday but still logged their worst week since May, the latest turn lower for crude in 2019 as fears of excess supply buffet prices.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude benchmark, inched up 0.6% to $55.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange to snap a four-session losing streak. Prices still retreated 7.6% for the week, their largest weekly decline since the week ended May 31. Brent crude, the global price gauge, added 0.9% to $62.50 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange, trimming its weekly slide to roughly 6%.

Friday's modest rebound came after Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the latest example of geopolitical uncertainty in the Persian Gulf swinging prices. The U.S. and Iran have also been tussling over the fate of a drone, and many analysts remain wary that tensions in the key shipping region could further disrupt the flow of oil around the globe.

Iran denied that the U.S. Navy had downed one of its drones, hours after President Trump said an assault ship named the USS Boxer had taken defensive action because the drone was flying too close. That followed several close encounters between American warships and the Iranian military. Earlier, Iranian forces said they had seized a foreign tanker.

Still, elevated stockpiles around the world continue to signal to investors that there is plenty of oil available, curbing price gains. U.S. crude remains about 16% below its April peaks, with the U.S. still churning out record amounts of crude and analysts wary that crumbling demand will lead to a production glut.

Analysts also said Tropical Storm Barry was less disruptive than anticipated to production and refining activity near the Gulf of Mexico recently, keeping some cautious that prices can sustain their Friday rally.

"Call it a bounce or a dead-cat bounce, after such a sharp drop, this upside is not very surprising and in the end it's still a muted upward gain," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

In the latest sign of softening projections for fuel consumption, International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol on Thursday told Reuters that the agency was cutting its 2019 oil-demand growth forecast by 100,000 barrels.

Additionally, the recent news that Russia's Druzhba pipeline -- which was contaminated by organic chloride in April -- has returned to full capacity removes another threat to global supply, said Geordie Wilkes, head of research at Sucden Financial Research.

Despite production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, some analysts expect crude prices to remain in their current trading range moving forward.

Elsewhere in commodities Friday, natural-gas futures fell 1.6% to $2.251 a million British thermal units, declining for a fifth consecutive session as analysts anticipate more moderate weather later in the summer that could crimp demand.

In metals markets, most-active Comex copper futures advanced 1.6% to $2.7525 a pound, paring some of their recent declines and hitting a two-month high as analysts expect Chinese stimulus efforts to boost demand moving forward.

Gold edged down 0.1% to $1,426.70 a troy ounce, dropping slightly below its recent six-year high.

Write to David Hodari at David.Hodari@dowjones.com and Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2019 16:02 ET (20:02 GMT)