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Oil prices were higher on Friday and headed for another strong weekly gain, as supply worries returned to the fore.
Price action
-
West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery
CL.1,
+2.05% CLM22,
+2.05%
rose $2.36, or 2.5%, to $110.82 a barrel. The contract closed up 0.4% to $108.26 a barrel on Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. -
July Brent crude
BRN00,
+2.09% BRNN22,
+2.09% ,
the global benchmark, rose $2.13, or 2.3%, to $113.26 a barrel. The contract finished up 0.7% to $110.90 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe on Thursday. -
June natural-gas futures
NGM22,
+2.02%
rose 1.5% to $8.923 per million British thermal units. The contract jumped 4.4% to close at $8.783 per million British thermal units on Thursday, its highest finish since Aug. 1, 2008. -
June gasoline
RBM22,
+1.28%
rose 0.9% to $3.6915 a gallon, while June heating oil
HOM22,
-0.77%
rose 0.6% to $4.068 a gallon.
Market drivers
Both West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude were poised for weekly gains of more than 5%, marking the third straight weekly gain for each, according to FactSet.
“In addition, the EU ban on Russian oil imports and a surprise U.S. announcement about starting to refill its SPR [strategic petroleum reserves] already this autumn also underpinning the price,” he said.
In Brent, the next level of resistance is the April high around $115 with support at $110, he said.
Analysts said an upswing for oil on Thursday was curbed by the strong selloff for Wall Street stocks and dollar strength. The latter can serve as a headwind for dollar-priced commodities, making them more expensive compared than those based in other currencies.
