Oil Rebounds after 3-Day Loss, But Still Logs 2nd Weekly Loss

© AP Photo / Matthew BrownIn this Nov. 6, 2013 file photo, a Whiting Petroleum Co. pumpjack pulls crude oil from the Bakken region of the Northern Plains near Bainville, Mont. U.S.
In this Nov. 6, 2013 file photo, a Whiting Petroleum Co. pumpjack pulls crude oil from the Bakken region of the Northern Plains near Bainville, Mont. U.S. - Sputnik International, 1920, 08.04.2022
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NEW YORK (Sputnik) - Crude prices closed up on Friday for the first time in four days but still registered losses for a second week in a row after the United States and other oil consuming countries announced a massive release of oil from their emergency reserves to mitigate a supply crunch.
London-traded Brent, the global crude benchmark, settled up $2.20, or 2.2%, at $102.78 per barrel, after losing a cumulative 7% in three previous days of trading. For the week, Brent lost 1.5%, after last week’s slide of 13.5%, which marked its worst weekly performance since April 2020 when oil demand plummeted in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
New York-traded US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, settled up $2.23, or 2.3%, at $98.26. WTI lost 1% for the week, adding to the previous week’s 13% fall, which also marked its worst weekly performance since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Crude prices fell for a third straight day after the Paris-based International Energy Agency said it will release 60 million barrels from the reserves of its members into the open market, adding to an earlier reserves release of 180 million barrels announced by the United States.
The combined 240 million barrels would be added to the market over a six-month period, resulting in a net inflow of 1.33 million barrels per day.
That would be more than triple the monthly increments of 400,000 barrels per day in output that global oil producers under the Saudi-controlled and Russian-steered OPEC+ alliance have been doing.
OPEC+ is keeping at least four million barrels of regular daily supply needed by consumers off the market to ensure that crude prices stay at above or around $100 per barrel, which has been the norm since the United States and EU sanctions imposed on Russia for its military operation in Ukraine.
Separately, the delivery of some 3 million barrels per day of Russian oil exports is being delayed by sanctions, with some being denied altogether.
Crude prices were down earlier this week as investors fretted over oil demand after the worst coronavirus outbreak in Shanghai in two years that forced a lockdown in China’s second largest city. China is the world’s biggest oil consumer after the United States.
Friday’s rebound in oil came as the announcement of the reserves release and the Shanghai lockdown appeared to have run their course, Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA, said.
"The oil market is still tight, but if China’s lockdowns have no end in sight, crude prices could still weaken by another 3-5%," Moya said.
Notwithstanding the drop of the past two weeks, Brent is still up 32% on the year while WTI shows an annual gain of 30%.
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