Singapore: Oil prices are set to end 2023 about 10 per cent lower, the first annual decline in two years, after geopolitical concerns, production cuts and global measures to rein in inflation triggered wild fluctuations in prices.
Brent crude futures were up 18 cents, or 0.2 per cent, at $77.33 a barrel at 0126 GMT on Friday, the last trading day of 2023, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading 11 cents higher at $71.88 a barrel in early Asian trade.
At these levels, both benchmarks are on track to close at the lowest year-end levels since 2020, when the pandemic battered demand and sent prices nosediving.
