(T.E.T)
Oil prices were set for a second straight weekly loss, but found a floor above $100 a barrel on Friday after volatile trading this week with no easy replacement for Russian barrels in sight in a market already marked by tight supply. Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.3%, to $106.37 a barrel by 1356 GMT, after surging nearly 9% on Thursday in the largest percentage gain since mid-2020.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 17 cents, or 0.2%, at $103.15 a barrel, adding to an 8% jump on Thursday. Both benchmark contracts were set to end the week down around 6%, after having traded in a $16 range. Prices hit 14-year highs nearly two weeks ago, encouraging bouts of profit taking since then. Meanwhile, output from the OPEC+ producer group in February undershot targets even more than in the previous month, sources said, while the International Energy Agency said oil markets could lose three million bpd of Russian oil from April. Consultancy FGE said on-land product stocks at key countries are 39.9 million barrels lower for this time of the year relative to the 2017-2019 average.
