Crude oil rose on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack suspended loading from the largest port in western Russia, but concerns about US demand capped gains.
Brent crude futures settled at $66.99 a barrel after it went up by 62 cents or 0.93 per cent, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures finished at $62.69 per barrel after a gain of 32 cents or 0.51 per cent.
The commodity reacted to the drone attack on Russia’s northwestern port of Primorsk, which led to a suspension of oil loading operations overnight.
Primorsk can load about 1 million barrels per day of crude, making it a key export hub for Russian oil and the largest port in western Russia. The port loads a flagship Russian Urals oil grade as well as about 300,000 barrels per day of diesel.
Ukraine has intensified its drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure as it pushes for talks to end the war in Ukraine, trying to cut Russia off crude oil sales, which is its main source of revenue, by limiting export capabilities.
Traders continued to focus on a revised US jobs report issued earlier in the week along with higher inflation figures as the US economy likely created 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated.
The department said on Thursday the consumer price index rose 0.4 per cent in August, the biggest gain since January, after increasing 0.2 per cent in July.
The markets are also watching for sanctions or tariffs from the Donald Trump administration aimed at reducing use of Russian crude by India and China.
There are so expectations that global oil supply would rise more rapidly than expected this year because of planned output increases by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday.
On its part, OPEC made no change to its relatively high forecasts for oil demand growth this year and next, saying the global economy was maintaining a solid growth trend.
On the supply side, India’s largest private port operator, Adani Group, has banned tankers sanctioned by Western countries from entering all of its ports. India is the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne oil, mostly shipped on tankers that are under sanctions by the European Union, the US, and Britain.