News wire — Oil weakened on Friday and was on track for a weekly drop, pressured by concerns about demand and the prospect of bigger supply from OPEC+, although Libyan output disruptions limited the decline.
OPEC+ is set to proceed with a planned oil output hike from October, as the Libyan outages and pledged cuts by some members to compensate for overproduction counter the impact of sluggish demand, six sources from the producer group told Reuters.
Brent crude futures for October delivery , which expire on Friday, were down $1.04, or 1.3%, at $78.90 a barrel by 1419 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped $2.15, or 2.8%, to $73.76.
The sell-off shows “how weak market sentiment is, considering the larger supply disruptions in Libya had only a temporary price support,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo, adding that the timing of how long the disruptions may last looked uncertain.
Both benchmarks, which a day earlier settled more than $1 higher, were on course for weekly drops.
More than half of Libya’s oil production, or about 700,000 barrels per day, was offline on Thursday and exports were halted at several ports following a standoff between rival political factions.
Consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group has estimated production losses could reach between 900,000 and 1 million bpd and last for several weeks.
Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru, Emily Chow in Singapore and Georgina McCartney in Houston; editing by Tom Hogue and Jason Neely – Reuters
