2024-03-01 14:48:02
Oil prices rose, Friday, and are heading for weekly gains as markets await OPEC+’s decision on production levels in the second quarter and evaluate new economic data from the United States, Europe and China.
Price movements
By 13:34 GMT, Brent crude futures for May delivery rose by $1.43, or 1.75 percent, to $83.34 per barrel.
Crude futures for April delivery, which expired on February 29, recorded $83.62 per barrel.
US West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery increased $1.54, or 1.97 percent, to $79.80.
US crude oil is heading to achieve a 4.3 percent increase this week, and Brent crude oil is 2.1 percent higher than last week’s settlement price.
Sources said that a decision is expected to be made regarding extending the OPEC+ cuts in the first week of March, and each individual country is expected to announce its decision.
A Reuters survey showed that OPEC pumped 26.42 million barrels per day in February, an increase of 90,000 barrels per day from January.
The market also received support on Friday from strong expectations that Saudi Arabia will keep crude oil prices for Asian customers little changed in April compared to March levels.
On the demand side, an official survey showed that manufacturing activity in China contracted in February for the fifth month in a row.
Prices also received support from the reading of the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index in the United States, the preferred measure of inflation at the US Federal Reserve, which showed that inflation in January was in line with economists’ expectations, which reinforced the market’s bets on a cut in interest rates in June.
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