Oil prices rose on Friday as the upward trend was slowed by signs of a recovery in fuel demand as a result of an increase in the number of new coronavirus infections in the US and China and tentative increases in expectations of US production.
Brent crude futures rose at 47:07 a.m. or 1.14% to USD 41.52 a barrel at 12:06 p.m. West African era while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures rose 31 cents, or 0.80%, to $ 39.03 a barrel.
Bonny Light, Nigeria’s premium crude, rose 44 cents or 1.09% in the last session and closed at $ 40.70 a barrel, just like another national variety, Qua Iboe, by $ 1.06 or $ 2 and rose 64% to $ 41.21 a barrel.
Both Brent and WTI are heading towards a weekly decline of almost 1.7% after Wednesday’s record crude oil prices led to a drop in prices.
According to analysts, satellite data showing a sharp increase in traffic in China, Europe and the USA indicate an improvement in fuel demand.
The standstill in Shanghai has been greater in the past few weeks than in the same period of the previous year, while traffic in Moscow was back at the level of the previous year, according to data from the location technology company Reuters, said TomTom.
However, there are concerns about an increase in coronavirus cases in the southern US that could stand in the way of a recovery in demand, especially since some of these states, including Florida and Texas, are among the top petrol users.
According to a majority of the economists surveyed by Reuters, the global economic outlook has also worsened in the past month or at best remained roughly the same, and the current recession is likely to go deeper than previously forecast.
Michael McCarthy, Chief Market Strategist at CMC Markets, said: “It appears that the market is ignoring the fundamentals of supply and demand and is evolving sentiment.
The possibility of expanding US crude oil production also limited profits on Friday.
