Oil down, heads for sixth weekly loss on gasoline glut

Crude oil dipped on Friday, plumbing multi-month lows and heading for a sixth straight week of losses, as the approaching end of the US summer driving season suggested a growing surplus in gasoline supply. The dollar's rise to a 3-1/2-month high against a basket of currencies, spurred by a strong US jobs report for July, also weighed on oil and other commodities denominated in the greenback.
Oilfield services firm Baker Hughes' report that the US oil rig count rose by six this week added to the bearish sentiment for crude as it signalled production could creep up from higher drilling activity. Drillers have added a total of 32 oil rigs over the past three weeks.
Traders and investors await Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data at 3:30 pm EDT (1930 GMT) to determine if money managers again had slashed their bullish exposure to US crude in the week to August 4. Hedge funds' net longs in US crude fell to near 5-year lows in the two previous weeks.
Government data showing US gasoline stocks exceeded market estimates by about 300,000 barrels last week has pushed global oil benchmark Brent to six-month lows and US crude to a 4-1/2-month trough since Wednesday. On Friday, Brent was down 70 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $48.82 a barrel by 1:15 pm EDT (1715 GMT), after briefly breaking through the previous low of $48.55 set on January 30. US crude slipped 60 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $44.06 a barrel after touching a low of $43.94 set on March 20.
Brent was down almost 7 percent this week and has fallen about 23 percent over the past six weeks. US crude slid about 6 percent on the week and has lost around 26 percent in the last six weeks. Analysts said crude futures could be pressured in coming months by seasonal refinery maintenance and stock builds in key oil products such as distillates, which include diesel.
Gasoline sank by more than 1.5 percent to 5-1/2-month lows on Friday, and ultra-low-sulfur diesel traded not far from a six-year bottom set earlier in the week. "The summer driving season is fading and we could see a quick ramp up in gasoline stocks," said Chris Jarvis, analyst at Caprock Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland. "We've had record refining heading out of the driving season that should translate into higher stocks of refined products in fall and winter.