14/02/2020
Reuters
Oil prices stabilized on Friday but are heading towards achieving its first weekly gain in six weeks due to the assumption that large producers will implement greater production cuts to mitigate the impact of the slowdown in demand from China caused by the Coronavirus.
By 04:39 GMT, Brent crude futures rose by a cent to $ 56.35 a barrel, after winning one percent in the previous session. And Brent is up 3.4 percent on the week, the first rise since the week ending January 10.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained four cents to $ 51.46 a barrel. And benchmark crude rose 0.5 percent on Thursday, which is currently 2.2 percent higher in the week.
"It seems that oil prices are stabilizing this week thanks to optimism that OPEC + will do everything necessary again to reduce production and thanks to the hope that the peak of the Coronavirus is approaching," said Edward Moya, market analyst at Oanda in New York.
Crude prices have tumbled about 20 percent of the peaks recorded in 2020 on the eighth of January, with the accession of concerns about excess supply to worry about significant reductions in fuel demand in China at the time that caused quarantine in the country to combat the spread of coronavirus in blocking activity procedures economic.
In response to declining demand, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, in what is known as the OPEC + group, are considering cutting production by up to 2.3 million barrels per day.
The International Energy Agency said on Thursday that demand for oil in the first quarter of 2020 is declining compared to what it was a year ago, for the first time since the financial crisis in 2009 due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus in China.
