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Crude-oil futures headed higher Friday morning but were on track to log the sharpest weekly decline in over four months, amid hand-wringing around the spread of COVID-19’s delta variant and its potential impact on energy demand.
West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery
CLU21,
CL00,
was trading 92 cents, or 1.3%, higher at $70.02 a barrel, on track for a back-to-back gain after the U.S. benchmark grade climbed 1.4% on Thursday.
For the week, WTI is off 5.3%, while Brent is off 4.3%, so far, which would represent both contracts sharpest weekly slides since the period ended March 19, FactSet data show.
The slump in crude over the week has come as the delta variant has prompted renewed mobility restrictions. Both Japan and China have reinstated lockdown measures in some regions to limit the spread of the highly transmissible variant.
October Brent crude
BRNV21,
the global benchmark, was 91 cents, or 1.3%, higher at $72.20 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, after climbing 1.3% in the previous session.
Investors also will be closely watching a monthly report on U.S. employment as a gauge of the appetite for crude from the world’s largest economy.
The U.S. likely added an estimated 845,000 new jobs in July, a Wall Street Journal survey of economists shows, with figures coming in below that level, likely to dampen the prospects for crude demand, strategists say.
On Friday, however, crude was seeing some gains based emerging conflict in the Middle East, which could ultimately impinge upon supplies if it worsens. Reuters reported of growing tensions between Israel and Lebanon, as Israeli jets struck Lebanese sites this week.
