Oil Suffers Sharp Weekly Loss Amid Growing Concerns

SadaNews - Oil prices rose at the close on Friday but recorded a weekly loss of 8.1% following news of potential increases in OPEC+ supplies.

Brent crude futures increased by 42 cents, or 0.7%, to $64.53 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose by 40 cents, also 0.7%, to $60.88 per barrel.

During the week, Brent crude plummeted by 8.1%, marking the largest weekly loss in over three months. West Texas Intermediate fell by 7.4%.

Dennis Kissler, Senior Vice President of Trading at BOK Financial, stated, "The anticipated increase in OPEC+ production and the resumption of oil flow through the Iraqi/Kurdish pipeline after being closed for the past two years is making sellers present in the crude oil market."

Kissler added, "Hamas has also started negotiating with the Trump administration regarding a peace plan. And if we add in the negative data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration regarding crude oil inventories released earlier this week, it’s hard to be optimistic about crude oil in the near term."

Analysts forecast that the potential increase in OPEC+ supplies and the slowdown in global crude oil refinery operations due to maintenance work and seasonal declines in demand in the coming months may negatively impact market sentiment.

Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG, said, "If OPEC+ moves forward and announces an increase of 500,000 barrels per day at the start of this week, the increase could be significant enough to push crude oil down again, initially to the $58 level before reaching its lowest point this year at $55."