WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell slightly on Friday but headed for a weekly gain following U.S. President Donald Trump's warnings to China and India of penalties on their ongoing purchases of Russian oil.
The two countries are the world's second- and third-largest crude consumers, respectively.
Benchmark Brent crude futures dipped 0.4 percent to $71.41 a barrel in European trade but were on track for a weekly gain of more than 4 percent.
Likewise, WTI crude futures were down 0.6 percent at $68.87 but were up nearly 5 percent for the week.
After Trump signed an executive order for new tariffs on almost 70 countries, there are concerns that the economic fallout of the tariffs could weigh on global growth and dent global energy demand.
On the downside, prices were supported by Trump's threats to impose 100 percent secondary tariffs on Russian crude buyers, which could lead to the removal of some oil from the market.
Last week, the EU's 18th sanctions package implemented on July 18 against Russia slammed an import ban on all refined products made from Russian crude oil originating from third countries.
Meanwhile, eight members of the group - Saudi Arabia, Russia, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Algeria - are scheduled to meet online on Saturday to decide their oil output policy.
'Taking into account the robust global economic outlook and current market conditions reflected in low oil inventories, they (eight OPEC+ members) agreed to make a production adjustment of 548,000 barrels per day in August 2025,' the Russian government said.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
