Oil prices on track for near 4% weekly decline on demand concerns

Oil prices on track for near 4% weekly decline on demand concerns

Brent crude futures slid 81 cents, or 0.8%, to $107.52 a barrel at 0130 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declined 72 cents, or 0.7%, to $103.07 a barrel.







Reuters









April 22, 2022 / 07:57 AM IST





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Oil prices fell on Friday, heading for a drop of nearly 4% for the week, burdened by the prospect of rate hikes, weaker global growth and COVID-19 lockdowns in China hurting demand, even as the European Union weighed a ban on Russian oil.

Brent crude futures slid 81 cents, or 0.8%, to $107.52 a barrel at 0130 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures declined 72 cents, or 0.7%, to $103.07 a barrel.

Both benchmark contracts were headed for weekly declines of around 3.7%.

This has been the least volatile week of trade since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, sparking sanctions that cut Russian oil supply and led consuming nations to release a record volume of oil from emergency stockpiles. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation".

Concerns about the Ukraine conflict stoking inflation and denting economic growth dominated trading in the second half