Oil Prices Climb But Remain On Track For Significant Weekly Loss - OilPrice.com
Oil Prices Climb But Remain On Track For Significant Weekly Loss | OilPrice.com
Support for nuclear energy in…
Increased ahead of next winter…
Friday morning trading in Asia saw oil prices in the green with a slight rise of less than a percentage point, and not enough to keep crude from its third consecutive week of closing at a loss as the U.S. economy drags markets down and demand from China remains elusive.
Friday morning Brent crude prices at 4:31 a.m. GMT were up 0.88%, for a gain of 64 cents, at $73.14 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate(WTI) was up 0.86%, for a gain of 59 cents, at $69.15 per barrel.
The first four days of the week saw Brent on a major losing streak of 8.5%, while WTI lost over 10% for the week.
Brent went from $87.33 on April 12, to $73 on May 4 as U.S. economic data continued to come in, spreading fears of a weakening economy. Also weighing on oil prices was the Fed’s Wednesday meeting in which it raised interest rates another 25 basis points, but also indicated a pause in rate hikes should inflation continue to ease. There are continuing concerns that rate hikes are slowing economic growth and negatively impacting oil prices, while U.S. bank failures add to the unease.
China’s recovery, which will be a significant determining factor for oil prices, remains uncertain after April declines in manufacturing activity, after three months of increase.
Oil markets will now be looking at next week’s U.S. crude oil inventory data, which many analysts anticipate will report the third drawdown in a row, potentially boosting oil prices or helping to staunch the losses.
For the first time this year, crude oil inventories last week fell below the five-year average, a development that failed to lend support to oil prices, with Standard Chartered suggesting that the traditional inverse relationship between inventories and oil prices has been disrupted.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Join the discussion| Back to homepage
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: petroleum
While electric-powered vehicles may be the ride of the future, oil remains at least for now the dominant fuel for transportation around the world. And after a period of time at the end of the 20th century when oil was subject to wide fluctuations in price, new supplies in North America as a result of non-conventional recovery techniques have helped stabilize prices.