Oil seesaws ahead of consumer nations’ meeting on stocks release

Oil prices seesawed on Friday ahead of a meeting of consuming nations to discuss a new release of emergency oil reserves alongside a huge planned release by the United States.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures dipped 6 cents to $100.22 a barrel at 0057 GMT after trading as high as $101.75. The contract slumped 7% on Thursday.

Brent crude futures rose 5 cents to $104.76 a barrel, after dropping 5.6% on Thursday. The May contract expired on Thursday at $107.91.

The planned U.S. release caused Thursday’s falls. On Friday the two benchmark contracts were each headed for a weekly loss of around 13%, their biggest in two years.