Oil tankers sail along Nakhodka Bay near the port city of Nakhodka, Russia.
Oil prices were up on Friday and secured a fourth straight week of gains after the West’s energy watchdog said global demand will hit a record high this year on the back of a recovery in Chinese consumption.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) also warned that deep output cuts announced by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other producers led by Russia - a group known as OPEC+ - could exacerbate an oil supply deficit and hurt consumers. Brent crude futures settled at $86.31 a barrel, rising 22 cents, or 0.3 percent.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) settled at $82.52 a barrel, gaining 36 cents, or 0.4 percent.
Brent is set to post a 1.5 percent weekly gain, while WTI was up 2.4 percent on the week. In its monthly report on Friday, the IEA said world oil demand is set to grow by 2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2023 to a record 101.9 million bpd, driven mostly by stronger consumption in China after the lifting of COVID restrictions there. Also helping to boost prices was the US oil and gas rig count, an indicator of future supply, which fell for the third week in a row, according to Baker Hughes data. US oil rigs fell by two to 588 this week, their lowest since June 2022.
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices last week slipped to a 22-month low amid slow demand from Japan, China and South Korea. The average LNG price for May delivery into northeast Asia was $12 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down 4 percent from the previous week, industry sources estimated. North Asia is still lacking demand, some players have elected to send out cargoes as storage is in good shape which is putting downward pressure on pricing, analysts said.
