Jul 01, 2022 03:10AM ET
By: AnalysisWatch
Oil prices fell on Friday, continuing the previous day's slump, as lingering recession fears weighed on sentiment and benchmarks were on track for their third straight weekly loss.
At 02:53 AM ET, Brent crude futures were down 43 cents, or 0.4%, at $108.60 a barrel, giving up earlier gains of more than $1.
WTI crude futures for August delivery were down 60 cents, or 0.6%, at $105.16 a barrel, also giving up early gains of nearly $1.
Both contracts fell about 3% on Thursday.
On Thursday, the group of OPEC+ producers, which includes Russia, agreed to maintain its production strategy after two days of meetings. However, the producer group avoided discussing policy from September.
Earlier, OPEC+ decided to increase output by 648,000 barrels per day (bpd) in both July and August, instead of 432,000 bpd per month as previously planned.
U.S. President Joe Biden will leave in mid-July for a three-hour trip to the Middle East that will include a visit to Saudi Arabia. This puts energy policy in the spotlight as the United States and other countries face rising fuel prices that are driving up inflation.
Norway's 74 offshore oil workers on Equinor's Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East platforms will go on strike starting July 5, the Lederne union said on Thursday, which is expected to halt about 4% of Norwegian oil production.
Oil prices are expected to remain above $100 a barrel this year as Europe and other regions seek to break away from Russian supplies, according to a Reuters poll on Thursday, although economic risks could slow the rise.