Doha: Oil prices settled higher on Friday, recouping some of last week’s losses on strong US job growth data, but closed the week at their lowest levels since February, rattled by worries a recession could hit fuel demand.
Brent crude settled up 80 cents to $94.92 a barrel, 13.7 percent off last Friday’s settlement. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled up 47 cents to $89.01, off 9.7 percent in the week.
Oil traders fretted about inflation, economic growth and demand, but signs of tight supply kept a floor under prices. Supplies were still relatively tight, with prompt prices still higher than those in future months, a market structure known as backwardation.
The Opec+ producer group agreed last week to raise its oil output goal by 100,000 barrels per day in September, but this was one of the smallest increases since such quotas were introduced in 1982, Opec data showed.
Supply concerns were expected to ratchet up closer to winter, with European Union sanctions banning seaborne imports of Russian crude and oil products set to take effect on December 5. In the US, the number of oil rigs, an early indicator of future output, fell seven to 598 in the week to August 5, the first weekly decline in 10 weeks.
Asian spot LNG prices continued their rise towards record levels last week on an expected pick-up in demand from China as it eases COVID-19 restrictions and ongoing concerns over curtailed Russian supply to Europe.
Prices shot up earlier last week, with some bids breaking $50 per mmBtu as market players worried about US-Chinese tensions following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit of Taiwan. The average LNG price for September delivery into north-east Asia was estimated at $45 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), up $2.5, or 5.9 percent, from the previous week, industry sources said. This is close to record levels of slightly over $48 per mmBtu, hit in December 2021.
In Europe, LNG imports from January to July reached a record above 75 million tonnes, almost the amount for the whole of 2021. In July, around 35 percent of total European imports were from the United States, versus 43 percent in June, mainly due to the loss of Freeport cargoes. Freeport LNG said it plans to resume some operations at its LNG facility in Texas during October.
In the US, natural gas futures eased about 2 percent from the previous week as forecasts for hot weather were revised.
