Slight gain recorded Friday in oil prices but investors worry about what OPEC+ will do

Despite a slight gain on Friday, crude oil prices finished the week with a loss of 8.1% after investors showed their nervousness about the weekend meeting of eight OPEC+ countries who gathered to considered increased international oil production.

The 8.1% loss for the week also turned out to be the biggest weekly loss in more than three months. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, dropped 7.4% for the week.

WTI on Friday finished up 40 cents or 0.7% to close at $60.88 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent crude futures finished up 42 cents or 0.7% and closed at $64.53 a barrel.

Analysts said on Friday the expected increase in production by the OPEC+ countries was keeping sellers present in the crude. Plus, there was the impact of initial flows of oil in the Iraq/Kurdish pipeline after being closed for the past two years.

Natural gas had a losing day as prices fell $0.108 or 3.14% before closing at $3.334 MMBtu.

Friday proved to be another positive day for Oklahoma energy stocks. All but three recorded gains including Stardust Power with a 15% jump for the day, followed closely by LSB Industries with a 12% climb and Empire Petroleum with a 7% increase.