Oil Prices Drop Week on Week Ahead of OPEC+ Decision
Oil prices were on track for a weekly loss on Friday as a build in US crude and the prospect of larger OPEC+ output outweighed support from tighter G7 sanctions on Russia and ongoing Ukraine war risks.
The international benchmark Brent crude traded at $64.38 per barrel on Friday, down around 6.3% from last week’s close of $68.69. Similarly, the American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stood at $60.60 per barrel, down 6.7% from $64.98 last Friday.
Prices opened the week volatile after a major Russian strike on Ukraine. Kyiv said on Sunday that four people were killed and more than 70 were injured in a large-scale Russian airstrike that primarily targeted the capital.
The escalation underscored security risks for European energy infrastructure and briefly lifted prices at the start of the week.
Meanwhile, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced on Saturday that oil shipments through the Iraq-Türkiye pipeline, a twin-line pipeline with a combined capacity of about 1.5 million barrels per day, had resumed.
Initial shipments are expected to average about 200,000 bpd. By midweek, attention turned to US stockpiles. Official data from the Energy Information Administration released late Wednesday showed commercial crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels to 416.5 million, exceeding forecasts for a 1.5 million-barrel increase.
The larger-than-expected build signaled weaker refining activity and reversed some of oil’s early-week gains. Markets found limited support after the Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers pledged to tighten enforcement of sanctions on Russia’s oil revenues, raising the risk of supply disruptions.
“Now is the time to maximize pressure on Russia’s oil exports, a major source of their revenue,” the ministers said. “We will target those who are continuing to increase their purchase of Russian oil since the invasion of Ukraine and those that are facilitating circumvention.”
The ministers said they would phase out remaining Russian hydrocarbon imports, consider restrictions on refined products, and weigh penalties on countries aiding Moscow’s war effort.
They said further steps will be discussed at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington in mid-October.
Investor focus also remained on the broader US economy, where the delayed jobs report due to the government shutdown added uncertainty around future demand and the Federal Reserve’s next policy move.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned the closure could weigh on growth, though markets expect it to be short-lived and anticipate rate cuts ahead.
Those demand concerns came as attention turned to supply, with Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, OPEC+, set to meet Sunday to decide November output. The group agreed last month to raise production by 137,000 barrels a day in October.
Analysts say expectations of further increases are reinforcing forecasts of excess supply in global markets. Nigerian Exchange Index Surges, Equities Investors Gain N384bn
