Brent crude futures fell 81 cents, or 0.8%, to $107.52 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 72 cents, or 0.7%, to $103.07 a barrel, and the two crudes are heading for a weekly decline of nearly 3.7%.
This was the least volatile week in trading since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, which led to sanctions that cut Russian oil supplies and prompted consuming countries to withdraw record volumes of oil from their buffer stocks.
Today, Friday, China’s central bank governor, Yi Gang, said: “The second largest global economy is not immune to external shocks, as well as internal pressures resulting from the spread of the Corona virus.”
The statements of Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, added to the negative sentiment in the oil market, as he waved yesterday, Thursday, a large and rapid rise in US interest rates, which pushed the dollar to rise, and this means that oil becomes more expensive for buyers of other currency holders.
