RIYADH: Oil gained 2.5 percent on Friday after a US official told Reuters that an immediate Saudi oil output boost was not expected as investors question whether OPEC has the room to significantly ramp up crude production.
Brent crude futures settled at $101.16 a barrel, rising $2.06, or 2.1 percent, while West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $97.59 a barrel, gaining $1.81, or 1.9 percent.
Both benchmarks saw their biggest weekly percentage drop in about a month, largely on fears earlier in the week that a nearing recession would chop away at demand. Brent lost 5.5 percent in its third weekly drop, while WTI was down 6.9 percent in its second weekly decline.
OPEC+ will assess oil market and do what is necessary
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said a US-Arab summit on Saturday did not discuss oil and that OPEC+ would continue to assess market conditions and do what is necessary.
“There was no oil discussion at the summit,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told a news conference, adding there were discussions with the US and consumer nations about crude all the time.
Libya oil chief says full output to resume after deal
Libyan oil output will resume from all shuttered fields and ports, the Tripoli government’s newly installed head of National Oil Corporation said on Friday after meeting groups that have blockaded the facilities for months.
The decision to lift force majeure on production could mean a return of 850,000 barrels per day of oil to the market that has been shut off by the groups aligned with eastern commander Khalifa Haftar.
Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah of the Government of National Unity appointed Farhat Bengdara as NOC chairman on Tuesday. He entered the state producer’s headquarters on Thursday after an armed force deployed there.
Bengdara met tribal elders representing the groups involved in the blockade during a visit to the eastern city of Benghazi.
Mustafa Sanalla, NOC chief since 2014, has refused to recognize Bengdara’s appointment, saying Dbeibah’s term of office has expired and he lacks the authority to sack him.
(With input from Reuters)
