Oil futures ended sharply lower on Friday, taking their weekly loss to nearly 7%, after comments from a Saudi Arabian prince cast doubt on whether the major crude producer would participate in any plan to stabilize global output, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude for May settled at $36.79 a barrel, down $1.55 or 4%. Futures, which settled at their lowest level since March 15, lost 6.8% for the week.
June Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell $1.66, or 4.1% to $38.67 a barrel on London’s ICE Exchange, with the contract down nearly 6% for the week.
Saudi Arabia will agree to freeze production only if Iran and other major producers agree to do the same, Mohammad bin Salman, the deputy crown prince of Saudi Arabia, said during an interview with Bloomberg.
The news sent oil prices sharply lower because Iran has been adamant that it will continue to raise output until exports reach pre-sanction levels. The Saudis had appeared late last month to soften their tone on a potential producer agreement at a summit in Qatar on April 17 to cap output without Iran.
May natural gas settled almost flat for the day at $1.956 per million British thermal units, with the contract scoring a weekly gain of 3.9%.
