Oil heads for first monthly gain this year as supply tightens
Shafaq News / Oil prices edged higher on Friday with Brent poised for its first monthly gain this year, as a big drawdown in U.S. oil stocks outweighed concerns that fuel demand will be dented further by more interest rate hikes.
Brent crude futures for September delivery rose 16 cents or 0.2% to stand at $74.67 as of 0405 GMT. The less-traded front month contract, which expires on Friday, was up 30 cents at $74.64.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 8 cents or 0.1% to $69.95.
After settling marginally higher on Thursday, both benchmarks were on track to climb more than 2.5% for June. While it would be Brent’s first monthly gain for 2023, it would mark a second for WTI after a gain in April.
Despite the probably monthly gain, on a quarterly basis, Brent looks set for a loss of around 6% while WTI appears headed for a decline of about 7%.
Markets are worried about tightening supply after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories dropped by 9.6 million barrels in the week ended June 23, far exceeding the 1.8-million-barrel draw analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll.
Meanwhile, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter was revised up to a 2.0% annualized rate from the 1.3% pace reported previously.
(Reuters)
