Brent North Sea crude for January shed 41 cents compared with Tuesday’s close to stand at $45.71 a barrel around 1800 GMT. Stocks at Cushing increased by 1.9 million barrels.
Advertisement
The dollar strengthened Friday and pressured commodities such as oil, which are priced in the USA currency.
Travel stocks fell, however, after the U.S. State Department late on Monday warned U.S. citizens to refrain from traveling overseas due to risks posed by increased terrorist threats.
Most market observers expect OPEC to announce plans not to cut production next week despite the resulting financial strain.
News from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is not helping either.
Also holding traders attentions is the annual OPEC meeting scheduled the end of the coming week. A day earlier, prices tacked on 17 cents, or 0.38%.
Reports that Russian Federation is not taking military action against Turkey for the shooting down of one of its fighter jets on the Syrian border also eased fears that the tense situation in the region could escalate and disrupt oil supplies. But there is little indication so far the turmoil in the Middle East is affecting oil supply.
“There are still tensions going on and they are giving a bullish push to prices”, said Daniel Ang, an investment analyst with Phillip Futures in Singapore. EIA’s November 2015 Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) projects the US average retail price of regular gasoline will continue to decline for the remainder of the year and will average $2.06/g in December.
“Funds have been covering short positions ahead of US Thanksgiving, we’ll see more of this in the run-up to Christmas”, Meyer said.
USA crude edged higher earlier in the day, supported by a smaller-than-expected build in US inventories.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that crude oil inventories rose by 961,000 barrels in the week ended November 20.
LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Crude oil futures fell on Friday as the US dollar index hit a fresh eight-month high, adding more pressure to an already oversupplied, bearish market.
Advertisement
The 12-nation OPEC, which counts the world’s biggest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, among its members, as well as Nigeria, Venezuela and Iran, holds a regular meeting in Vienna on Friday next week. The contract hasn’t settled since Wednesday, when futures closed up 0.4% at $43.04.
