OIL PRICE: NEAR $82 AGAIN
Vladimir Vinogradov
WOGNEWS.NET, Global Energy Market Climate Changes News. Новости мирового энергетического рынка, изменений климата.
Brent was up 77 cents, or 0.9%, at $82.01 a barrel. WTI was up 79 cents, or 1%, at $79.80 a barrel.
The December contract expires on Friday and most trading activity has shifted to the January future, which was up 73 cents, or 0.9%, at $79.14 a barrel.
Both Brent and WTI are set for a fourth week of declines.
The market gyrations on Thursday followed a Reuters report that the United States had asked China, Japan and other big buyers to join a release of crude stocks from Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR).
The Biden administration's push for a coordinated release of oil stockpiles has been seen as a signal to the OPEC+ production group that it should raise output to address concerns of high fuel prices in the world's biggest economies, starting with the United States, China and Japan.
Brent has surged almost 60% this year, recently driven by a wider energy crunch as economies recover from the COVID-19 pandemic at the same time as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and allies, known as OPEC+, has raised output only gradually.