Oil prices snaps winning streak toward weekend but book weekly rise
Shafaq News/ Oil futures snapped a three-day winning streak Friday, but booked weekly and monthly gains as supply worries tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine outweighed concerns over a hit to demand from China's COVID-19 lockdowns.
West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery fell 67 cents, or 0.6%, to close at $104.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with the U.S. benchmark logging at 2.6% weekly rise and a 4.4% April gain, based on the most actively traded contract.
June Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose $1.75, or 1.6%, to close at $109.34 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe. July Brent, the most actively traded contract, fell 12 cents, or 0.1%, to $107.14 a barrel.
Basra heavy crude limped toward the end of the week, shrugging 67 cents to settle at $104.69 a barrel. Weekly gains amounted to $2.62, or 2.57% above last week.
Oil initially rose, with the uptick "attributable to the increased probability of an EU oil embargo against Russia now that Germany has stopped opposing such a measure," said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank, in a note.
This change in stance comes as no surprise given that Germany's Economics Minister Habeck said a few days ago that Germany now imports only 12% of its oil from Russia.
German representatives to European Union institutions on Thursday lifted objections to a full embargo of Russian supplies provided Berlin was given enough time to find alternative supplies, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing government officials.
Germany, with Europe's largest economy, has been a key roadblock to an EU embargo linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. and U.K. had previously moved to end purchases of Russian oil.
