Oil climbs ahead of Opec+ meeting
Oil prices rose on Friday on expectations that Opec+ will discuss output cuts at a meeting on September 5, though concern over China's Covid-19 curbs and weakness in the global economy loomed over the market.
Brent crude futures rose 66 cents to settle at $93.02 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 26 cents to settle at $86.87 a barrel.
Both benchmarks slid 3 per cent to two-week lows in the previous session. Brent posted a weekly drop of 7.9 per cent, and WTI of 6.7 per cent.
A weekly chart shows that US crude futures surpassed last week's high and have since retreated, and closed below last week's closing level. That is a bearish signal, according to Eli Tesfaye, senior market strategist at RJO Futures in Chicago. "When you take out the week's high and week's low and then close lower, that's a reversal down - it's a signal that there's weakness, and that's telling you it's a weak market," he said.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies led by Russia - a group known as Opec+ - are due to meet on September 5 against a backdrop of expected demand declines, though top producer Saudi Arabia says supply remains tight. Opec+ is likely to keep oil output quotas unchanged for October at Monday's meeting, three Opec+ sources said, although some sources would not rule out a production cut to bolster prices that have slid from sky-high levels hit earlier this year.
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