Oil prices fell on Friday following a Reuters report that OPEC+ was leaning toward restarting more oil production and that investors’ concerns about a possible conflict between the United States and Iran that could affect supplies had eased.
Brent crude oil futures were down 11 cents, or 0.2%, at $67.41 a barrel by 1306 GMT, after falling 2.7% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 15 cents, or 0.2%, to $62.69, following a 2.8% decline the previous day.
Both oil benchmarks were poised to record weekly losses, with Brent and WTI set to fall by 1% and 1.3% respectively.
Prices had risen earlier in the week on concerns that the United States could attack Middle Eastern oil-rich Iran over its nuclear program. However, prices fell on Thursday after US President Donald Trump’s comments on Thursday that the US could reach a deal with Iran within the next month.
However, US media reported late Thursday that the US was sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East.
Away from the Middle East, the Kremlin announced Friday that the next round of peace talks on Ukraine will be held next week.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Moscow and Washington are discussing bilateral trade and economic cooperation. He added that while the Russian government wants dialogue to continue, such discussions are unlikely to move beyond dialogue until the Ukraine conflict is resolved.
Price pressure also comes from the International Energy Agency’s latest forecast, which said in a monthly report that growth in global oil demand this year is expected to be weaker than previously expected, with overall supply expected to outstrip demand.
IG analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note that Thursday’s price decline was amplified by U.S. data showing a significant increase in crude oil inventories and rising expectations that increased Venezuelan supply could soon hit the market.
“Venezuela’s oil supplies are expected to return to pre-lockdown levels in the coming months,” he said, adding that supplies are expected to increase from 880,000 barrels per day to about 1.2 million barrels per day.
White House energy officials announced Thursday that the U.S. Treasury Department will issue additional allowances to ease sanctions on Venezuelan energy.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday that U.S.-controlled oil sales from Venezuela have totaled more than $1 billion since the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro in January, with another $5 billion expected in the coming months.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Sam Lee, Lewis Jackson and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by David Goodman)
