WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes about higher refinery demand and on optimism the rate cut by the People's Bank of China and possible further stimulus will help boost growth in the world's second largest economy.
Oil prices were also supported by Russia's Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov's comments that it was 'realistic' to expect crude prices to return to around $80 per barrel. Shulginov cited falling Russian oil and gas condensate production to around 20 million tonnes this year as one of the reasons for his views.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.16 or about 1.6% at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained about 2.3% in the week.
Brent crude futures were up $1.03 or 1.36% at $76.70 a barrel a little while ago.
'Oil is rallying as the short-term fundamental outlook appears to have turned a corner, with Europe's diesel premium surging and as China delivers a massive crude import quota,' says Edward Moya, Senior Market Analyst at OANDA. 'Europe's widening of Gasoil cracks was triggered by refinery maintenance across Asia, while China's imports improve and probably will become robust once stimulus flows through the economy.'
'Refinery outages are killing this morning's rally as that could lead to significant builds over the coming weeks,' he adds.
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