Oil prices are down on Friday, but finished the week in the plus.
The price of April futures on London’s ICE Futures Exchange for Brent was $84.32 a barrel by 7:15 a.m. on Friday, down $0.18 (0.21%) from the previous session’s close. Those contracts fell $0.59 (0.7%) to $84.5 a barrel at the close of trading on Thursday.
The price of WTI futures for March crude oil at NYMEX fell by $0.29 (0.37%) to $77.77 per barrel by that time. By the close of previous trading the cost of those contracts declined by $0.41 (0.5%) to $78.06 a barrel.
Both Brent and WTI gained more than 5% YoY on optimism about prospects for Chinese demand, which rose after Saudi Arabia raised March prices for its main oil grade supplied to Asia.
At the same time, traders fear that the protracted tightening of monetary policy in the U.S. could weaken the country’s economy and, consequently, fuel consumption.
Earlier this week, several U.S. Central Bank executives made it clear that they believe it is necessary to continue raising the U.S. benchmark interest rate because the fight against high inflation is not over.
“Oil will continue to rise in price if fears of a downturn in the economy subside,” said CITIC Futures Co. Gui Chenxi, cited by Bloomberg. – The market is hoping for higher energy demand as we see mobility growth in China, as well as in the U.S. and Europe.
