Oil was trading lower on Friday morning amid
weak fuel demand.
The ruble is losing ground against the US
dollar and the euro as the crude prices are falling.
Oil futures went down by 1% on Friday and
were on track to end the week with the largest
drop since June.
Sluggish demand for fuel and ample oil supplies
have offset support from a weaker US dollar.
In the early session, Brent oil futures lost
0.77% to trade at 43 dollars 73 cents per
barrel, while WTI crude futures fell by 0.87%
and settled at 41 dollars 1 cent per barrel.
The North American grade is set for the first
weekly drop in five weeks.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI oil
futures for October were trading at 41 dollars
1 cent a barrel which is 0.87% less than in
the previous session.
On Thursday, WTI futures contracts were down
by 14 cents or 0.34%.
Analysts at AxiCorp think that oil prices
can be capped by a seasonal decline in oil
demand.
Besides, it is reported that Iraq may fail
to fulfill its obligations under the OPEC+
agreement on output cuts.
In the meantime, the report from the US Energy
Information Administration showed that US
gasoline demand fell to 8.78 million barrels
per day last week from 9.16 million barrels
a week earlier.
RBC Capital analyst Mike Tran noted that soft
margins are likely to cap further crude rallies
and more supply cuts are expected this fall
to expedite the rebalancing of product stocks.
Oil production cuts have led to a significant
decline in US gasoline inventories in the
past two months.
Yet, the data shows that driving dynamics
in the country remained unchanged over the
past 6-8 weeks.
Meanwhile, the ruble is weakening against
the US dollar and the euro due to the negative
situation in the energy market.
On the Moscow Exchange, the US dollar average
weighted rate settled lower by 28 kopecks
to trade at 75.18.
Yesterday, the dollar/ruble pair was trading
at 75.46.
Oil prices continue to fall in the Friday
session and are on track for the biggest weekly drop.
The downtrend in the oil market pushes the
ruble lower against the US currency.
