Oil futures settled lower Friday over worries about China’s growth and fresh trade and political friction between Washington and Beijing over trade and the future of Hong Kong.
At the same time, the number of oil rigs operating in the US fell for a 10th week in a row.
Services company, Baker Hughes on Friday said the number of rigs drilling for oil, fell by 21 to 237 last week.
That was 70% fewer than the 796 rigs in use in the same week of 2019. The number of rigs drilling for gas fell 57% to 79 from 186 in the same period.
The total active US rig count also fell by 21 to 318, according to Baker Hughes.
US oil production fell 3.5% to an average of 11.75 million barrels a day over the past four weeks. On an estimated weekly basis, production was 11.5 million barrels down 700,000 from a year. The average figure is more accurate.
July West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil fell 67 cents, or 2%, to settle at $US33.25 a barrel in New York on Friday.
Brent crude futures for July lost 93 cents, or 2.6%, to $US35.13 in Europe.
For the week, WTI crude jumped 12.6% and Brent rose on 8.1%, for the fourth week of gains in a row.
Investors were rattled by concerns of fresh unrest in Hong Kong after news the Chinese government is considering a sweeping national security law that could curtail the territory’s autonomy.
President Trump told reporters on Thursday that the US would react “strongly” toward those moves on Hong Kong.
Meanwhile Comex gold for June delivery rose $US13.60, or 0.8%, to settle at $US1,735.50 an ounce, Thursday’s 1.7% drop.
That fall drove the weekly movement down by 1.2%, according to data from FactSet.
Comex July silver added 32.9 cents, or 1.9%, to settle at $US17.693 an ounce, after falling 3.7% in the previous session. Prices were up nearly 3.7% for the week.
Among other metals traded on Comex, July copper lost 1.9% to $US2.3865 a pound, but still ended 2.4% higher for the week..
July platinum added 2.3% to end at $US886.30 an ounce, for a weekly rise of 8.5%, while June palladium fell 4.1% to $US1,977.10 an ounce, but still 6.4% higher for the week.
