Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Business
Asharq Al-Awsat

Oil Prices Ease on Recession Fears, Headed for 3rd Weekly Loss

Pump jacks operate at sunset in Midland, Texas, US, February 11, 2019. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

Oil prices eased on Friday as lingering fears of a recession demand weighed on sentiment, putting the benchmarks on track for their third straight weekly losses.

Brent crude futures were down 20 cents, or 0.2%, at $108.83 a barrel by 0428 GMT, giving up earlier gains of over $1.

WTI crude futures for August delivery slid 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $105.39 a barrel, also surrendering an early gain of nearly $1.

Both contracts fell around 3% on Thursday, Reuters reported

"Earlier in the session, the market took a breather from Thursday's sell-off as the OPEC+ gave no surprise, saying it would stick to its planned oil output hikes in August," said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute.

"But uncertainty over OPEC+ policy in and after September and fears that the aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve would lead to a US recession and hamper fuel demand dampened sentiment," he said.

On Thursday, the OPEC+ group of producers, including Russia, agreed to stick to its output strategy after two days of meetings. However, the producer club avoided discussing policy from September onwards.

Previously, OPEC+ decided to increase output each month by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in July and August, up from a previous plan to add 432,000 bpd per month.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.