Oil prices declined around 3% during the week ending Aug. 19 on demand concerns fueled by global recession fears and negative economic data.
Brent crude was trading at $94.67 per barrel at 15.10 p.m. local time (1210 GMT) on Friday, posting a 3.1% decrease from the Monday session that opened at $97.72 a barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) registered at $88.94 per barrel at the same time on Friday, falling 3.3% relative to the opening price of $91.94 a barrel on Monday.
Both benchmarks started the week on a negative note as weaker-than-expected data from China provoked demand woes. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that daily crude oil throughput in July decreased to a record low since March 2020.
China, the world's second-largest economy, also saw slower-than-expected industrial production and retail sales growth, suggesting that its zero-COVID policy is weakening consumer demand.
Prices extended losses after reports of a looming nuclear deal between Iran and the US by mid-week, which, some experts believe, will bring an extra 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) to the region over six months.
The US said Tuesday that many of the most pressing details to get Washington and Iran to return to compliance with the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement have been generally agreed upon.
However, a more-than-expected drop in US crude stocks boosted prices on Thursday. According to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Wednesday, US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by around 7.1 million barrels to 425 million barrels last week, against the market expectation of a fall of 117,000 barrels.
The huge drop in stockpiles was partly driven by the country's record crude oil exports that increased by 2.9 million bpd and reached 5 million bpd due to growing demand from EU countries.
Finally, prospects for a possible increase in oil production by OPEC+ also eased supply worries and limited price increases. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, including Russia, known as OPEC+, agreed to increase production by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) during the group’s meeting at the beginning of the month.
The group will meet again on Sept. 5 to discuss output plans for September onwards.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr