LONDON (Reuters) – Oil held around $44 a barrel on Friday and was heading for its biggest weekly decline since June, as weak demand figures added to concerns of a slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A U.S. government report showed domestic gasoline demand fell in the latest week. Middle distillates inventories at Asia’s oil hub Singapore have soared above a nine-year high, official data showed..
Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $44.12 at 0745 GMT, heading for a 2.3% drop this week. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 3 cents to $41.34, set for the first weekly drop in five weeks.