Oil prices fall on Friday, ending the week with a decline amid fresh signals that the US economy is slowing down and demand for energy resources may decline, Interfax reports.
Statistical data, published the day before, showed a decrease in the growth rate of US household spending in May to the lowest since the beginning of the year 0.2% from 0.6% in April. Consumer spending accounts for 70% of US GDP, and the statistics were taken by the markets as a negative economic signal.
«Obviously, the direction of oil prices at the moment is determined by macroeconomic news,» said Warren Patterson, an analyst at ING Groep NV in Singapore, quoted by Bloomberg. «However, the supply situation in the market remains tight, and this will keep prices down».
The cost of September futures for Brent oil on the London ICE Futures exchange by 08:15 Moscow time on Friday was $108.84 per barrel, which is $0.19 (0.17%) lower than the closing price of the previous session. As a result of trading on Thursday, these contracts fell by $3.42 (3%) to $109.03 per barrel.
The price of futures for WTI oil for August in the electronic trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) by this time amounted to $105.39 per barrel, which is $0.37 (0.35%) lower than the final value of the previous session. By the close of the market on Thursday, the value of these contracts fell by $4.02 (3.7%) to $105.76 per barrel.
In June, the cost of Brent decreased by 6.5%, but rose by 6% in the second quarter. WTI fell 7.8% on the month and rose 5.5% on the quarter, according to Dow Jones Market Data. During the first half of the year, Brent has risen in price by 48%, WTI – by 41%.
The ministers of the OPEC+ states, following a meeting on Thursday, decided to confirm the previously planned plan to increase oil production quotas by 648,000 barrels per day in August. U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to the Middle East later this month to discuss with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates how to increase production more aggressively.
