Friday was another day of ups and downs as oil futures produced weekly gains while crude prices closed out the week on a lower note, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.
June West Texas Intermediate crude lost 41 cents, or 0.9%, to end trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $47.75 a barrel. For the week, the June contract increased by 3.3%.
The July WTI contract, now the most active and front month contract, slid down 26 cents, or 0.5% on Friday to close at $48.41 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, slipped 9 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $48.72 a barrel on London’s ICE Futures Exchange. The July Brent crude contract gained almost 2% for the week.
The Baker Hughes weekly rig count on Friday showed the number of active U.S. oil rigs was unchanged at 318 following a drop for eight consecutive preceding weeks. The rig count may notch up if oil prices remain low enough to encourage drillers to jump back into the game.
“Shale producers are broke or bleeding cash, so it is unlikely that we will see a big rebound,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at Price Futures Group.
June natural gas tacked on 2.3 cents, or 1.1%, ending trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $2.062 per million British thermal units. For the week, the June natural gas contract settled at a loss of 1.6%.