Oil rises as investors look past possible reserve releases

Shafaq News / Oil prices rose on Friday, after wild swings the day before, as investor bet that potential coordinated releases by major economies of their official crude reserves may have less of an impact on markets than expected.

Brent crude was up 73 cents, or 0.9%, at $81.97 a barrel by 0703 GMT, after falling to a six-week low on Thursday before rebounding to close 1.2% higher.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for December delivery was up 82 cents, or 1%, at $79.83 a barrel, having swung through a more than $2 range the previous session before closing up.

The December contract expires on Friday and most trading activity has shifted to the January future, which was up 67 cents, or 0.9%, at $79.08 a barrel.

Both Brent and WTI are set for a fourth week of declines.

The market gyrations on Thursday followed a Reuters report that the United States had asked China, Japan and other big buyers to join a release of crude stocks from Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR).

Any release "would only provide a short-term fix to a structural deficit," Goldman Sachs oil analysts said in a note.

A move to supply oil to the market is now fully priced-in at any rate, they said, adding a release "would not help the slow global supply response that only higher oil prices can overcome."

Source: Reuters