Crude oil rises on Friday but is headed to a major weekly loss
Crude oil futures are rising on Friday, although they are expected to see a large weekly decline, amid fears that slower growth in the global economy will hurt fuel demand. Concerns among investors remain despite Saudi Arabia's announcement that it has fully resumed oil production since last month's attacks.
The price of Brent oil rose by 0.21% to 57.80 USD per barrel, while futures on US light crude oil (WTI) gained 0.23% to 52.59 USD per barrel.
Brent futures are down by 6.4% this week, marking their biggest weekly decline since December, while WTI contracts are down by 5.68%, which is their biggest drop since July.
The weak data on the US services sector and the slowdown in job creation increased the concerns about global oil demand amid expectations that a prolonged US-China trade war could push the global economy into recession.
Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Thursday that his country, which is the world's largest exporter of crude oil, has fully restored oil after last month's attacks on its facilities, which dropped by more than 5% of world oil supplies.
ANZ Bank said on Friday that investor sentiment had not improved since news that Saudi Arabia had managed to recover quickly from recent attacks. However, recent data suggesting a slowdown in US shale production and drilling activity may provide some support. According to ANZ Bank, due to the continued decline in drilling activity in the US, the monthly growth of US shale oil production has slowed from 150,000 barrels per day to just 50 barrels per day.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://financeandmarkets.com/crude-oil-rises-on-friday-but-is-headed-to-a-major-weekly-loss/