Doha: Oil prices settled higher on Friday and notched over 3.5% in weekly gains as positive economic data and signals from Fed policymakers that they could cut interest rates as early as September eased demand concerns.
Fears of a widening Middle East conflict continue to raise supply risks. Brent crude futures settled 50 cents up, or 0.6%, at $79.66 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 65 cents, or 0.9%, to $76.84.
Brent gained more than 3.5% in the week, while WTI rose more than 4%. A trio of Federal Reserve policymakers indicated on Thursday that they were more confident that inflation is cooling enough to cut rates.
A bigger-than-expected fall in US jobless claims data also helped to underpin the recovery.
The number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, suggesting that fears the labour market is unraveling were overblown and that the gradual softening in the labor market remains intact.
Also offering support was China’s consumer price index, which rose last month at a slightly faster than expected rate.
Asian spot LNG prices remained at their highest level in over seven months, tracking European gains amid concerns over supply disruption.
The average LNG price for September delivery into north-east Asia was at $12.90 per mmBtu last week.
This is the highest level since mid-December and up from $12.80/mmBtu.
The Asian prices rise has largely been underpinned by the European gains, with north-east Asian demand remaining tepid despite hot weather in much of the region, particularly South Korea which is also facing a few unplanned nuclear outages.
In Europe, gas prices have risen last week on heightened geopolitical risk in the Middle East and after Ukraine mounted a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, where Russian natural gas flows into Ukraine.
In the US, natural gas futures touched an over two-week peak on Friday, aided by forecasts for hotter weather and higher demand for the next week.
Front-month gas futures for September delivery rose 1.6 cents, or about 0.8%, to settle at $2.14 per million British thermal units.
The contract was up about 9% so far last week, its biggest weekly gain since June 7.
