Oil prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Friday, and resumed rally after taking a pause yesterday due to profit-taking from multi-year highs, but today hopes about the global demand lifted prices up, especially about the US demand, while on track for the ninth weekly gain in a row.
US crude rose 1% to $83.39 a barrel, after opening at $82.54, and hit a low at $81.79, and Brent crude rose 1.1% to $85.52 a barrel, after opening at $84.56, and hit a low at $83.84.
The US crude lost 1.1% yesterday, on profit-taking from 7-year high at $83.93, and Brent fell more than 1.3%, after hitting the highest since October 2018 at $86.08.
Alongside profit taking, oil prices fell yesterday due to a drop in natural gas and coal prices.
Oil prices resumed rally today thanks to global demand demand, especially after signs on improved US demand, following an unexpected drop in the US crude inventories last week.
The Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday that the US crude inventories fell 400K barrels during the past week, while analysts forecast a rise by 2.1 million barrels, a positive sign about improved demand and withdrawal.
While the US output fell 100,000 barrels last week, the first weekly drop in a month and a half, with the total at 11.3 million barrels per day.
Oil prices gained 0.75% so far this week, to head for the ninth weekly gain in a row, due to concerns over a market deficit during the last quarter of 2021.