ISLAMABAD
Crude oil prices bounced back on Friday after hitting five-month lows in the previous session but remained on track for a seventh consecutive weekly loss amid bearish market sentiment.
As of 1235 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $1.38 (+1.86 percent) to reach $75.43 a barrel.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went up by $1.29 (+1.86 percent) to $70.63 a barrel. Both benchmarks hit their lowest levels since late June on Thursday.
Similarly, the price of Russian Sokol increased by $0.85 (+1.22 percent) to $70.43.
Arab Light prices witnessed an increase of $0.67 (+0.85 percent) to reach $79.17 a barrel. On the other hand, the price for Opec Basket decreased to $78.31 a barrel with a dip of $1.38 (-1.73 percent). The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend, Girassol, Djeno, Zafiro, Rabi Light, Iran Heavy, Basra Light, Kuwait Export, Es Sider, Bonny Light, Arab Light, Murban and Merey.
Last week, Opec+ members extended their voluntary oil output reductions until the end of the first quarter of next year amid concerns over future fuel demand. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter, will keep its voluntary output cut of one million barrels per day until the end of March. Russia said it would deepen its voluntary oil production cut to 500,000 bpd and extend it until the end of the first quarter of next year. Last week’s announcement of voluntary production cuts totalling 2.2m bbl/day by Opec+ has the potential to improve the market balance, according to the analysts, but this is yet to materialize.
A recent decrease in US commercial oil stocks could also help improve market balance, with the country’s Energy Information Administration reporting stocks decreasing by 4.6 million bbl week on week late on Wednesday.
Brent and WTI crude futures are on track to fall around 4 percent for the week, their biggest losses in four weeks. Fuelling the market’s downturn, Chinese customs data showed its crude oil imports in November fell 9 percent from a year earlier as high inventory levels, weak economic indicators and slowing orders from independent refiners weakened demand.
