Oil pulls back but gains for a 6th week

Shafaq News/ Oil prices settled lower on Saturday, as demand worries due to new coronavirus-related restrictions on business in New York overshadowed progress toward vaccination programs.

Brent futures settled down 27 cents or 0.54% at $49.98 a barrel. The contract rose above $51 a barrel on Thursday to an early-March high.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 23 cents, or 0.49%, to $46.55, having risen almost 3% in the previous session.

For the week, Brent was up 1.5% and WTI was up less than 1%. That was the sixth consecutive week of gains for the first time since June.

Promising vaccine trials have helped lift some gloom over record increases in the number of coronavirus infections and deaths around the world, and Cuomo sounded a note of optimism, saying he expected 170,000 doses of Pfizer’s vaccine to be in New York by Sunday or Monday.

Britain began inoculations this week and the United States could start vaccinations as early as the coming weekend, while Canada on Wednesday approved its first vaccine with initial shots due from next week.

Outside advisers for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have voted to endorse emergency use of Pfizer’s vaccine, paving the way for the agency to authorise its use in a nation where COVID-19 has killed more than 285,000.