Crude oil futures ended lower on Friday following a volatile week of trading in a bear market, according to a report by Bloomberg MarketWatch.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, September West Texas Intermediate crude lost 13 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $41.80 a barrel.
On the London ICE Futures Exchange, October Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell two cents to end trading at $44.27 a barrel.
Earlier this week, crude oil futures marked a decline of 20% from the most recent peak thus entering into a bear market while slipping under $40 a barrel.
“The continuing rebalancing of the market, with shrinking of oil supplies and strong demand will push up prices,” said Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank.
Meanwhile, September natural gas futures fell 6.2 cents, or 2.2%, to close at $2.772 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.