Oil Futures Reflect Weekly Loss Despite Friday’s Boost

Crude oil futures rose higher on Friday but remained below the $50 threshold benchmark despite concerns about OPEC’s production curb compliance deal, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

September West Texas Intermediate crude tacked on 23 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $48.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, WTI saw a loss of roughly 1.5%.

On the London ICE Futures Exchange, October Brent crude, the global benchmark, added 20 cents, or 0.7%, to end trading at $52.10 a barrel, with prices losing about 0.6% for the week.

“Concerns about elevated OPEC production and falling compliance to the global output cap deal that is currently scheduled to last through [the first quarter of 2018] is keeping WTI prices from breaking through the $50 [a barrel] mark near term,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor of the Sevens Report.

“Longer term, the relentless trend of rising U.S. production continues to be a material headwind for the oil market, as this much output growth in 2017 was not expected,” said Richey.

Back on the New York Mercantile Exchange, natural gas for September ended nearly flat at $2.983 per million British thermal units. Prices rose 3.5% Thursday — buoyed by a smaller-than-expected gain in U.S. supplies — to tally a weekly climb of 7.5%.