Oil prices rose on Friday and ended a week with a loss that WTI faced minus forty. Prices have been on tremendously extreme edges. As an extension of ongoing sales since early March, the oil trade has been tremendously fluctuating throughout the week, following the negativities leading to a drop in demand by 30 percent.
While some key factors such as sharp decline in active drilling rigs in the US contributed nominally to oil prices, keeping the positive effects of these movements under control turned out to a hard task for months. Canada has also reduced the number of drilling, oil and gas facilities to a record level.
Brent futures LCOc1 rose 11 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $21.44 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 rose 44 cents, or 2.7%, to close at $16.94.
Oil futures marked their third straight week of losses, with Brent ending down 24% and WTI off around 7%.
Traders expect the demand to be insufficient for months due to the economic recession caused by the outbreak.
The warehouses are filling rapidly, and the allies, including the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, agreed to cut production by 9.7 million barrels a day this month. However, it is stated by many authorized mouths that this is not enough and more production cuts are required.
Despite the measures taken by OPEC and its allies, oil producers in various countries should be aware that they need to be ready to take tougher measures. Otherwise, gambling may cause serious damage to some parties.
Russia plans to halve oil exports from the Baltic and Black Sea ports in May, as it has agreed to cut production according to its initial loading schedule for crude oil shipments.
