Daily Times

Crude oil prices edged up on Friday but remained on course for a second straight weekly fall after some countries announced plans to release crude from their strategic stocks. As of 1300 hours GMT, Brent, the international benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, gained $0.69 (+0.69 percent) to reach 101.27 a barrel. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main oil benchmark for North America, jumped to $97.16 a barrel, up by $1.13 (+1.18 percent).

The price for Opec basket was recorded at $100.12 a barrel with a decrease of 5.66 percent. The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes (ORB) is made up of Saharan Blend, Girassol, Djeno, Zafiro, Rabi Light, Iran Heavy, Basra Light, Kuwait Export, Es Sider, Bonny Light, Arab Light, Murban and Merey.

Arab Light was available at $105.58 a barrel with a decrease of 1.19 percent and the price of Russian Sokol slipped to $92.18 a barrel with a 0.67 percent decrease.

Member nations of the International Energy Agency will release 60 million barrels combined over the next six months with the United States matching that amount as part of its 180 million barrel release announced in March. Although this is the biggest release since the stockpile was created in 1980, it will fail to ultimately change the fundamentals in the oil market. It is likely to delay further increases in output from key producers, according to analysts. Analysts said the emergency oil release, amounting to about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) from May to the end of the year, might cap price rises in the short term, but would not fully cover volumes lost if more countries impose sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation”.