Oil prices rose for a fourth straight day on Friday as Goldman Sachs estimated the market is in deficit and a new storm started building in the Gulf of Mexico, putting crude on track for a weekly gain of about 10 per cent.
Brent crude was up 27 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $43.57 a barrel by 0510 GMT, while US oil futures gained 23 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $41.20 a barrel.
Both contracts dipped at the start of the day but have risen sharply this week after Hurricane Sally cut US production and OPEC and its allies laid out steps to address market weakness.
Goldman Sachs said in a new report that recent storage on oil tankers of crude for future delivery was “driven by transient inventory allocation dynamics” rather than a rise in global stocks that would suggest the market is oversupplied.
