HOUSTON: Crude prices recovered from a midday dip on Friday on hopes Hungary can use Russian crude oil as US President Donald Trump met Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the White House.
Brent crude futures settled at USD63.63 a barrel, up 25 cents or 0.39percent. US West Texas Intermediate crude finished at USD59.75 a barrel, up 32 cents, or 0.54percent.
Both benchmarks are poised to register weekly declines of around 2percent as leading global producers raise output. “We’re sort of watching that Trump meeting with Orban to see if some deal comes out that eases sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft,” said John Kilduff, partner with Again Capital.
“The fact that we’re shutting down flights is taking out a lot of diesel demand,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst for Price Futures Group.