By Georgi Kantchev and Christopher Alessi 

Oil prices closed little changed Friday, pulled between comments from President Donald Trump that high crude prices "will not be accepted" and a meeting between major oil producers where they recommitted to limiting output.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery settled up 9 cents, or 0.1%, at $68.38 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, hovering near their highest close in more than three years. Brent, the global benchmark, rose 28 cents, or 0.4%, to $74.06 a barrel.

Oil sold off after Mr. Trump tweeted, "Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!"

The president's comments came as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other major producers outside the cartel, including Russia, gather in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to assess compliance with a coordinated plan to hold back crude production.

Responding to Mr. Trump's tweet on the sidelines of the ministerial monitoring meeting, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih -- the de facto head of OPEC -- said "there is no such thing as an artificial price." Markets, he added, "determine prices."

Earlier in the day, Mr. Falih said OPEC output reductions were "far from over." His Russian counterpart, Alexander Novak, said his country was committed to complying completely with agreed cuts.

OPEC and 10 producers outside the cartel have been holding back oil output by around 1.8 million barrels a day since the start of 2017. The deal is set to expire at the end of this year, but Saudi Arabia has indicated the participants could continue to hold back output into 2019.

Mr. Trump's options to influence crude prices are limited since U.S. oil production depends on scores of independent producers rather than a state-owned oil company like those in OPEC, analysts said.

"There's very little he can really do, unlike the Saudis who control their own output" said Tom Pugh, a commodities economist at Capital Economics. "And it's just a tweet for now, we have to see if this becomes a theme."

Mr. Pugh said Mr. Trump could sell oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve or try to pressure Saudi Arabia to exit a deal to limit production, but neither measures are likely to succeed.

OPEC's secretary-general, Mohammed Barkindo, said Friday that the U.S. oil industry "is benefiting" from the OPEC production cuts. Indeed, higher prices have incentivized U.S. shale oil producers to ramp up production over the past year, breathing new life into an industry that had been weighed down by excess global supply and low prices, analysts say.

OPEC and its external allies achieved more than 140% of their agreed oil-production cuts in March, officials at the meeting said. That contributed to rebalancing the market after a three-year glut and helped send the oil price on a rally that has added over 125% to the price of brent since January 2016.

In April, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have largely driven the price, not least after a U.S.-led strike on the Syrian regime last week. Investors are also monitoring the U.S. stance on the international nuclear agreement with Iran, due for review in May. A reinstatement of sanctions could hit oil production and reduce global supply from one of OPEC's largest members.

Brent is "ticking higher by the day, as OPEC cuts are intact, global oil demand growth is firm, Venezuela oil production is in a death spiral, renewed Iran sanctions are imminent and sanctions toward Russia on oil and not just aluminum is possible," said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB Markets.

Gasoline futures settled up 0.9% to $2.0959 a gallon and diesel futures settled up 0.6% at $2.1230 a gallon.

Stephanie Yang contributed to this article.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com and Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 20, 2018 15:58 ET (19:58 GMT)