And at 0452 GMT, Brent crude futures fell 66 cents, or 0.9%, to $73.51 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude futures lost 61 cents, or 0.9%, to $69.42 a barrel, according to Reuters data.
Last week, both benchmarks fell for the fourth consecutive week, the longest period of continuous decline on a weekly basis since September 2022, on fears that the United States could enter a recession due to the existence of a “high possibility” of a historic default in the first two weeks of June.
Investors sought safe havens such as the US dollar, which boosted the greenback and made commodities denominated in it more expensive for holders of other currencies.
And the OPEC+ group, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and oil producers including Russia, in April announced additional voluntary production cuts of about 1.16 million barrels per day. , bringing the total production cut to 3.66 million barrels. per day.
But Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul-Ghani said Iraq should not participate in further oil production cuts under the OPEC+ group when the group meets next in June.
Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Energy, told members of the House of Representatives on Thursday that the United States could begin buying back oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after closing a sale with congressional approval in June. .
The announcement was followed by a weekly report from energy services company Baker Hughes, which showed the number of US oil rigs fell by two to 586 last week, the lowest level since June 2022. while the number of gas rigs decreased from 16 to 141 rigs.
Meanwhile, leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries could announce new measures at their May 19-21 meetings that will aim to evade sanctions involving third countries, officials with direct knowledge told Reuters. discussions.
The sources said tougher sanctions would also include harming Russia’s energy production in the future and restricting trade that supports the Russian military.
India and China, the world’s largest importers of crude oil, are in third and first place respectively and have been the top two buyers of Russian crude since the start of the EU embargo in December.
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