Oil posted its biggest weekly loss in five weeks and its longest run of weekly declines in three years on lingering fears of an emerging-market demand slowdown and building US stockpiles.
Futures on Friday added 0.7 percent in New York amid a slipping US dollar, strengthening copper and another labor strike at North Sea oil and gas platforms.
However, prices remained lower on the week.
West Texas Intermediate, the US crude benchmark, dropped 2.5 percent this week, the most since July 13, as turmoil in Turkey and an ongoing China-US tariff battle rattled investor concerns about demand.
Oil has retreated more than 11 percent from the three-year high reached in June as concerns about the global economy grow, just as OPEC and its allies revive production.
Oil supplies have also appeared more plentiful, as US crude inventories expanded by the most since last year, OPEC raised output last month and Libya recovered some halted production.
“The general indicators have been very bearish here as of late,” Mizuho Securities USA LLC futures division director Bob Yawger said. “The EIA [US Energy Information Administration] report was one of the most bearish reports in recent memory.”
Oil on Friday clawed back with copper amid a weakening dollar, which helped oil, analysts said.
“The perception is that maybe the situation is not as bad as it was on Wednesday,” Yawger said.
Copper is considered “good indicator of Chinese demand for all commodities,” he said.
West Texas Intermediate crude for delivery next month settled at US$65.91 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up US$0.45. Total volume traded was about 49 percent less than the 100-day average.
Brent for October delivery settled at US$71.83 per barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange, up US$0.40. The global benchmark crude traded at a US$6.62 premium to West Texas Intermediate for the same month.
A Turkish appeals court refused to release a US pastor as the diplomatic row with the US escalated, tipping Turkey’s economy deeper into crisis and raising fears that the tumult would spread to other economies.
“There’s talk that if the emerging-market crisis broadens, it will weigh on global demand,” Confluence Investment Management LLC executive vice president Bill O’Grady said. “There’s nothing out there friendly right now.”
US President Donald Trump’s trade spat with China and looming Iran sanctions continued to leave investors skittish, analysts said.
“The problem with the trade war is that it’s not clear what the goal of the administration is,” O’Grady said. “It’s going to pressure oil.”
In other commodities, wholesale gasoline dipped 0.3 percent to US$1.98 per gallon, while heating oil inched up 0.1 percent to US$2.10 per gallon and natural gas rose 1.3 percent to US$2.95 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Gold was little changed at US$1,184.20 per ounce, but silver fell 0.6 percent to US$14.63 an ounce and copper added 0.5 percent to US$2.63 per pound.
Additional reporting by AP
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