Dubai: Oil prices rose about 3 per cent on Friday, recouping most of the previous session’s declines, as supply outages in Libya and expected shutdowns in Norway outweighed expectations that an economic slowdown could dent demand. Brent crude futures were up $3.03, or 2.8 per cent, at $112.06 a barrel by 1157 GMT, having dropped to $108.03 a barrel earlier in the session. WTI crude futures gained $2.84, or 2.7 per cent, to $108.60 a barrel, after retreating to $104.56 a barrel earlier.
Both contracts fell around 3 per cent on Thursday, ending the month lower for the first time since November. We “still see risks to prices as skewed to the upside on tight inventories, limited spare capacity and muted non-OPEC+ supply response,” Barclays said in a note.
Libya’s National Oil Corporation declared force majeure on Thursday at the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf ports as well as the El Feel oilfield. Force majeure is still in effect at the ports of Brega and Zueitina. Production has seen a sharp decline, with daily exports ranging between 365,000 and 409,000 bpd, a decrease of 865,000 bpd compared to production in “normal circumstances”, NOC said.
Snap stike
Elsewhere, 74 Norwegian offshore oil workers at Equinor’s Gudrun, Oseberg South and Oseberg East platforms will go on strike from July 5, the Lederne trade union said on Thursday, likely halting about 4 per cent of Norway’s oil production.
Ecuador’s government and indigenous groups’ leaders on Thursday reached an agreement to end more than two weeks of protests which had led to the shut-in of more than half of the country’s pre-crisis 500,000 bpd oil output.
