Oil prices fell about a $1 on Friday as the United States and allies considered releasing more oil from storage to cool markets and as traders faced higher costs for trading benchmark Brent futures.
Brent crude futures fell $1.07, or 0.9%, to $117.96 a barrel at 0053 GMT, after sliding 2.1% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.20, or 1.1%, to $111.14 a barrel, having dropped 2.3% in the previous session.
Despite the declines, both contracts were headed for their first weekly gains in three weeks, with Brent on track for a 10% jump and WTI on course for a 7% rise amid broader fears of a supply crunch due to sanctions on Russia, the world’s second-largest crude exporter.
The punitive measures against Russia were imposed since its invasion of Ukraine last month, which Moscow calls a “special operation”. Supply concerns heightened after the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal on Russia’s Black Sea coast stopped exports on Wednesday after being damaged by a major storm.
