Oil prices managed small gains on Friday but were headed for a weekly loss of nearly 3% after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecast a growing glut and U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to meet again to discuss Ukraine.
Brent crude futures settled at $61.29 while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude finished at $57.54. For the week, Brent and WTI fell by 2.3%.
Trump and Putin agreed on Thursday to another summit on the war in Ukraine, to be held in the next two weeks in Hungary. That comes on top of a ceasefire agreement ending, at least temporarily, the fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. This week’s decline was also partly due to rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China, which added to concerns about an economic slowdown and lower energy demand.
Asian spot LNG prices rise slightly on cold weather despite ample inventories
Asian spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices rose slightly this week, as colder weather forecasts in north-east China lifted buying interest, despite strong storage inventories.
The average LNG price for December delivery into north-east Asia was $11.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), up from $11.00 per mmBtu last week, industry sources estimated. While Chinese trade data showed a modest rebound in imports and exports, underlying economic weakness persists amid falling producer prices and markets are braced for potential volatility ahead of a Nov. 10 deadline for U.S.-China trade.
In Europe, the Dutch TTF price settled at $10.89 per mmBtu, recording a weekly gain of 0.2%. However, the market remains on a gentle downtrend long-term, awaiting deeper winter for a clearer seasonal outlook.
— By The Al-Attiyah Foundation
