Oil mixed on stimulus hopes and demands fears

Oil mixed on stimulus hopes and demands fears

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices were mixed on Friday as the market weighed the potential benefits of stimulus efforts by policymakers around the world against demand destruction caused by fallout from the rapid spread of the coronavirus.. "Unlike the financial markets, the oil market is apparently finding it difficult to look beyond the current crisis," Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg said.. Oil requirements around the world may drop by 20% as 3 billion people are in lockdown, the head of the International Energy Agency Fatih Birol said as he called on major producers like Saudi Arabia to help to stabilize oil markets.. Analyst Weinberg said "We have our doubts about whether Saudi Arabia will allow itself to be persuaded so easily to return from the path of revenge that it only recently embarked upon.". But the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund Kirill Dmitriev told Reuters a new OPEC+ deal to balance oil markets might be possible if other countries join in..