Investing.com - U.S. oil futures hit fresh highs for 2016 on Friday and were set to post gains for a fifth straight week on growing optimism that major producers would strike a deal to freeze output. U.S. crude was up 3 cents at $40.23 barrel at 0653 GMT, after rising to as much as $40.55 earlier. Brent was up 2 cents at $41.56 per barrel and earlier rose to $41.71, a new high for the year. Oil prices have surged more than 50% from 12-year lows since OPEC floated the idea of a production freeze, boosting Brent from about $27 and U.S. crude from around $26. U.S. oil is heading for a fifth week of gains, while Brent is on course for a fourth weekly increase, the longest rising streak in about a year for both benchmarks.