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Summary
- Brent and WTI down more than 4% this week
- Supply glut remains main market focus
- US plans to seize more tankers off Venezuela, sources say
(Reuters) – Oil prices closed lower on Friday, marking a 4% weekly decline as a supply glut and a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal outweighed worries about any impact from the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker near Venezuela.
Brent crude futures settled 16 cents down at $61.12 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was down 16 cents at $57.44.
Both benchmarks fell by about 1.5% on Thursday and have lost more than 4% this week.
“The market continues to be weighed down by the crude oil supply situation… on the other hand, the oil market is ignoring the tension between the U.S. and Venezuela,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates.
The U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday. The U.S. is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil after the seizure of a tanker this week, six sources close to the matter said on Thursday.
Traders and analysts largely shrugged off worries about the impact of the tanker seizure, pointing to ample supply in the markets.
International Energy Agency forecasts published on Thursday indicated that global oil supply will exceed demand by 3.84 million barrels per day next year – a volume equal to almost 4% of world demand.
Data in OPEC’s report, also issued on Thursday, indicated that world oil supply will match demand closely in 2026, in contrast to the IEA’s view.
Some price-supportive factors remain, including the ramping up of tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, and Ukrainian drone strikes on a Russian oil rig in the Caspian Sea, said Janiv Shah, analyst at Rystad Energy.
Russia’s seaborne oil product exports in November fell by just 0.8% from October, with the completion of refinery maintenance helping to offset a slump in fuel exports from southern routes such as the Black Sea and Azov Sea, data from industry sources and Reuters calculations showed.
Reporting by Seher Dareen in London, Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Siyi Liu in Singapore. Editing by Alex Lawler, Nia Williams and Daniel Wallis
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