WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell on Friday but remained on track for a weekly gain of around 10 percent in response to Norwegian oil workers taking strike action.
Benchmark Brent crude fell 34 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $43 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 36 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $40.84.
Both contracts gained more than 3 percent on Thursday on the back of supply outages caused by a storm in the Gulf of Mexico and a strike of offshore workers in Norway.
Norwegian oil company and labor officials will meet with a state-appointed mediator today to try to end a strike that threatens to cut output from western Europe's biggest oil and gas producer by some 25 percent.
In the Gulf of Mexico, producers have shut 1.69 million barrels per day of oil, or 92 percent of the Gulf's oil output, the most since 2005.
Hurricane Delta, now a Category 3 storm, is threatening to hit the southwest area of Louisiana this evening where Hurricane Laura roared ashore six weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said on Thursday world oil demand will plateau in the late 2030s and could by then have begun to decline.
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