Oil prices fell somewhat in Asian trading on Friday.
Brent oil futures contract stands at $74.57 per barrel, down 0.5 percent (40 cents) so far in today’s trading, down from $74.86 at the time of the close on the Oslo Stock Exchange on Thursday.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5 percent to $70.49 a barrel. barrel.
Uncertainty over the US debt ceiling dampens the mood, and a meeting planned for Friday between US President Joe Biden and congressional leaders is set to be postponed until next week.
China pessimism
At the same time, concerns persisted for the banking sector after American PacWest announced that deposits fell by 9.5 percent over the previous week. The stock fell more than 20 percent on Wall Street on Thursday.
– Traders covered short positions ahead of the weekend, but concerns about a political “showdown” over the US debt ceiling and the US regional banking sector are having a big impact, Hiroyuki Kikukawa, president of Nissan Securities-owned NS Trading, told Reuters.
– With continued fears of a slow recovery in Chinese gasoline demand, the pessimistic mood in the market is likely to continue in the coming week, he continues.
Iraq’s oil is on the way
Kikukawa also notes that any US replenishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) could provide support if WTI oil falls to around $70 a barrel. barrel.
We also include a message that Iraq will resume exports from the Kurdistan Region to Ceyhan, Turkey, starting May 13. Reuters refers to a statement by Iraqi Oil Minister Hayan Abdul Ghani on Thursday. In this case, this means that about 450,000 barrels per day come on the market.
On Friday morning, the news agency reported that Iraq had not yet received a response from Turkey to its request.
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