Oil futures settled lower in Europe and the US on Friday, ending a three-day streak after Russia’s energy minister indicated that a coalition of producers could pump more crude than agreed by the end of the year.
September Brent crude futures fell 25 cents, or 0.3%, to $US74.29 a barrel in Europe, while September West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped 92 cents, or 1.3%, to $US68.69 a barrel in New York.
Brent crude ended the week up 1.7%, WTI added 0.6% – the first weekly gains for both contracts in four weeks.
Oil futures extended losses after remarks by Russia’s energy minister, Alexander Novak, who said he “did not rule out…an increase in oil production in excess of 1 million barrels a day may be discussed”.
Russia, Saudi Arabia and other producers last month agreed to boost production last month provided output remained below caps they agreed to in 2016.
The weekly report from Baker Hughes, on rig use showed the number of US rigs drilling for crude rose by 3 to 868 this week. That’s still short of the peak last month of more than 870.
US crude production remained around 11 million barrels a day last week and stocks fell by 6.1 million barrels.
Oil was boosted earlier in the week after top crude exporter Saudi Arabia halted shipments via a Red Sea trade route due to attacks on two of its tankers by Houthi rebels from Yemen.
An estimated 4.8 million barrels a day of crude oil and refined products flowed through the Bab al-Mandeb strait in 2016 toward Europe, the US and Asia, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Shipments are expected to resume this week.
