NEW YORK: Oil prices edged up on Friday on reports Iran was preparing a retaliatory strike on Israel from Iraq in coming days, but record US output weighed on prices.
Brent futures were up 29 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $73.10 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 23 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $69.49. At their session highs, both benchmarks were up over $2 a barrel.
Brent posted a weekly decline of about 4% with WTI down about 3%.
OPEC+ includes OPEC and its allies like Russia and Kazakhstan. As OPEC+ holds back on production, US oil major Exxon Mobil said its global output hit an all-time high, while Chevron said its US production hit a record high.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said this week that drillers pulled a record 13.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil out of the ground. EIA also said this week that output in August hit a record 13.4 million bpd, and has said that annual output was on track to hit a record 13.2 million bpd in 2024 and 13.5 million bpd in 2025.
US job growth almost stalled in October as labor strikes in the aerospace industry depressed manufacturing employment while hurricanes impacted the response rate for the payrolls survey, making it hard to get a clear picture of the labor market ahead of next week’s presidential election.
Polls show the US presidential race is a toss-up between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris or Republican former President Donald Trump as the country’s next president.
Economists said they expect the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 25 basis points next Thursday. After hiking rates aggressively in 2022 and 2023 to tame a surge in inflation, the Fed started to lower rates in September. Lower rates decrease borrowing costs, which can boost economic growth and demand for oil.
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