(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) Oil prices rose in Asia on Friday, despite thin market
liquidity, after a week marked by worries about Chinese demand and
haggling over a Western price cap on Russian oil, trend reports with reference
to reuters .
Brent crude futures rose by 28 cents, or 0.33%, to trade at
$85.62 a barrel at 0410 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 49
cents, or 0.49%, from Wednesday's close to $78.43 a barrel. There
was no WTI settlement on Thursday due to the U.S. Thanksgiving
holiday.
Both contracts were still headed for their third consecutive
weekly decline, on track to fall about 2% with worries about tight
supply easing.
'Oil is trading slightly higher in highly illiquid holiday-type
trading, likely finding some support from lower global interest
rates,' said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset
Management, in a client note.
On the Russian oil price cap, G7 and European Union diplomats
have been discussing levels between $65 and $70 a barrel.
'The market considers (the price caps) too high which reduces
the risk of Moscow retaliating,' ANZ Research analysts said in a
note to clients.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will not supply
oil and gas to any countries that join in imposing the price cap,
which the Kremlin reiterated on Thursday.
Trading is expected to remain cautious ahead of an agreement on
the price cap, due to come into effect on Dec. 5 when an EU ban on
Russian crude kicks off, and ahead of the next meeting of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known
as OPEC+, on Dec. 4.
In October, OPEC+ agreed to reduce its output target by 2
million barrels per day through 2023, and Saudi Arabian Energy
Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman was quoted saying this week
that OPEC+ was ready to cut output further if needed.
Meanwhile, there are growing signs that a surge in COVID-19
cases in China, the world's top oil importer, is starting to hit
fuel demand, with traffic drifting down and implied oil demand
around 13 million barrels per day, or 1 million bpd lower than
average, an ANZ note showed.
China on Friday reported a new daily record for COVID-19
infections, as cities across the country continued enforce mobility
measures and other curbs to control outbreaks.
'This remains a headwind for oil demand that, combined with
weakness in the U.S. dollar, is creating a negative backdrop for
oil prices,' ANZ said in a separate commodity note.