Oil prices settle lower to post around 11 pct weekly loss
Dec 10, 2022
New York [US], December 10: Oil prices decreased on Friday as demand worries linger.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for January delivery lost 44 cents, or 0.6 percent, to settle at 71.02 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for February delivery slipped 5 cents, or nearly 0.1 percent, to close at 76.1 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
For the week, the WTI slumped 11.2 percent, while Brent dropped 11.1 percent, marking their biggest weekly declines in months.
The market sell-off came as traders tried to assess demand weakness especially after data showed a large build in U.S. petroleum product inventories.
"The market is trying to decide whether the recent softness is signaling a global economy that is ready to tank or is somewhat transitory because of seasonal factors," Phil Flynn, senior energy analyst at The Price Futures Group, said Friday in a note.
"In recent days the markets have been erring on the side of a continued demand collapse because of the reports about the Federal Reserve warning that the market was underestimating the scale of future interest rate hikes," he said.
Traders also weighed risks on the supply side.
The latest Platts survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights showed that the OPEC+ oil producer alliance shrank crude output by 700,000 barrels per day in November, the steepest monthly decrease since April when Russian production plunged due to sanctions.
Source: Xinhua
