ISLAMABAD: Oil futures snapped a four-week losing streak as investors turned cautiously optimistic over the fading risk of a US debt default amid signs of progress on talks, though a strong US dollar eroded most of the gains. Both major global benchmarks Brent and WTI rose 1.9 percent and 2.16 percent respectively on a week-on-week basis. Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world\u2019s oil, surged to $75.58 from $74.17 on a week-on-week (WoW) basis. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, went up to $71.55 from $70.04 on a weekly basis. Prior to this weekly gain, Brent lowered by 14 percent and WTI dropped by 15 percent during the last four weeks. TLTP
\nThe price of Russian Sokol increased by $1.99 (+3.05 percent) to $67.19 from $65.20 on WoW basis. Similarly, Arab Light prices witnessed an increase of $1.76 (+2.32 percent) to reach $77.63 from $75.87 a barrel on a weekly basis.
\nHowever, the price for Opec Basket decreased from $76.69 to $76.06 on a week-on-week basis, showing a decrease of $0.63 (-0.82 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.
\nCrude oil prices recorded their first weekly gain after going down for four straight weeks as sentiment about future demand improved amid signs that there might be progress on the debt ceiling negotiations in the US Congress. President Joe Biden and top US congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy earlier this week underscored their determination to strike a deal soon to raise the government\u2019s $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, with hopes of finalising a deal after Biden returns from the Group of Seven meeting in Japan on Sunday.
\nIn addition to debt ceiling optimism, prices got some support from the fact that driving season is around the corner with demand expected to pick up in accordance with usual seasonal variation. Some additional support was also provided by the US Department of Energy when it announced it planned to buy three million barrels of oil for the strategic petroleum reserve.
\nThe US dollar firmed to near a six-month peak last week on the back of rising US Treasury bond yields, as optimism over debt ceiling talks in Washington raised expectations of higher-for-longer interest rates. This factor dragged the oil prices down and stopped them from making a hefty gain during the week. Oil is denominated in dollars, and thus gains in the greenback make it more expensive for holders of other currencies.
\nAccording to market experts, the second half of the year could see the oil market appreciate as traders return to concentrating on supply and demand fundamentals. Both the US and India have announced plans to repurchase oil for their reserves, and that will only add to the supply deficit and rebound the oil prices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD: Oil futures snapped a four-week losing streak as investors turned cautiously optimistic over the fading risk of a US debt default amid signs of progress on talks, though a strong US dollar eroded most of the gains. Both major global benchmarks Brent and WTI rose 1.9 percent and 2.16 percent respectively on a week-on-week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-332709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\n