New York, Sep 2 – The price of Texas intermediate oil (WTI) closed this Friday with a rise of 0.3%, to 86.87 dollars a barrel, thus breaking the three days down , but ending the week with a loss in the value of crude oil of more than 6 dollars.
At the close of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), WTI futures contracts for October delivery were up $26 from the previous close.
Oil prices rose this Friday due to the possibility that OPEC+ will discuss production cuts at its meeting on September 5.
OPEC+ this week cut its outlook for demand, now forecasting it will drop by 400,000 barrels per day in 2022.
But despite this change in direction, crude oil registers losses in its weekly close due to fears that the covid-19 restrictions in China and weak global growth will affect demand.
Investors are concerned about the impact of the latest covid-19 restrictions in China. On Thursday, the city of Chengdu, with more than 21 million inhabitants, went into lockdown again, affecting manufacturers such as Volvo, among others.
Also, this week it was announced that Chinese factory activity in August contracted for the first time in three months.
On the other hand, inflation is near double-digit territory in many of the world’s largest economies, so many central banks are turning to more aggressive interest rate hikes, which could translate into a widespread slowdown and affect fuel demand.
October natural gas futures contracts fell 47 cents to $8.78, and gasoline futures due the same month added 7 cents to $2.46 a gallon.