06/03/2018
(Reuters)
Oil prices fell on Friday due to the rising of the US crude exports that overshadowed stocks in the world's largest consumer. By 0602 GMT, the Wes Texas Intermediate crude futures contract was $ 62.70 a barrel, down seven cents from the last settlement price.
Brent crude futures fell 11 cents to reach $ 66.28 a barrel.
The US crude is still up about 1.7 percent over the week, and Brent is up with 2.2 percent. The two crudes are heading towards their second weekly gain after heavy losses early in the month.
Today's decline comes after the price increase in the previous session. The US Energy Information Administration stated that crude inventories in the United States fell 1.6 million barrels in the week ending Feb. 16 to 420.48 million barrels, despite a seasonal slowdown in demand at the end of the winter season.
The US Energy Exports data showed that US crude exports jumped to just over 2 million barrels per day last week, approaching a record high of 2.1 million in October. This helped in reducing net imports to below 5 million barrels per day, the lowest level since the department began recording data in 2001.
There has been little change in US crude production last week to settle at 10.27 million barrels per day.
Globally, however, the world oil markets are still well supported by the growth of simultaneous demand with the production cuts that led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia.
