Oil on track for second straight weekly gain on resilient demand

Oil on track for second straight weekly gain on resilient demand

Oil prices rose slightly on Friday and were on track for their second straight weekly gain, as resilient demand resulted in a larger-than-expected fall in U.S. oil stocks, offsetting fears of higher U.S. interest rates. Brent crude futures were up 20 cents, or 0.3%, at $76.72 a barrel at 0304 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 19 cents, also 0.3%, to $71.99 a barrel. Both benchmarks were set to gain about 2% for the second straight week. "The crude demand outlook is starting to look better as we enter peak summer travel in the U.S., and as the Saudis were able to raise prices to Europe and Asia," said Edward Moya, an analyst at OANDA. U.S. crude stocks fell more than expected on strong refining demand, while gasoline inventories posted a large draw after an increase in driving last week, the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday. That comes as top oil exporters Saudi Arabia and Russia announced a fresh round of output cuts for August. The total cuts now stand at more than five million barrels per day (bpd), equating to 5% of global oil output. However, oil price gains were capped by strengthening expectations that the