Oil firms amid supply worries, but heads for sharp weekly decline
Shafaq News / Oil prices rose on Friday but were on track for their biggest weekly declines since November after see-sawing on fears of escalating bans on Russian oil versus efforts to bring more supply to market from other major producers.
Brent crude futures climbed $2.48, or 2.27%, to $111.81 a barrel at 0747 GMT after dropping 1.6% in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up $2, or 1.89%, to $108.02 a barrel, following a 2.5% decline on Thursday.
In a week of volatile trading marked by talk of Russian oil embargoes then potential supply additions from Iran, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates while fighting escalated in Ukraine, Brent was on track for a weekly fall of 5.2% after hitting a 14-year high of $139.13 on Monday. U.S. crude was headed for a drop of 6.6% after touching a high of $130.50 on Monday.
Similarly, both contracts could easily rise to over $115 on any negative headlines, he said.
Prices eased this week after it became clear the European Union, heavily reliant on Russian energy, would not join the United States and Britain in banning Russian oil.
Russia, the world's second largest crude exporter behind Saudi Arabia, exports about 3 million barrels per day of crude to Europe's OECD countries.
(Reuters)
