New York, -Oil prices dropped on Friday as market participants weighed risks from both the supply and the demand sides.
The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery lost 80 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at 80.79 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for January delivery decreased 70 cents, or 0.8 percent, to close at 82.17 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark dropped 0.6 percent while Brent slipped 0.7 percent.
“Headwind is being generated by a significantly firmer U.S. dollar and speculation about a release of strategic oil reserves in the U.S.,” Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note.
“Nonetheless, the oil market will remain tight in the short term,” he added.
In its closely-watched monthly report released on Thursday, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) revised its forecast for the growth in global oil demand this year down somewhat to 5.65 million barrels per day (bpd). For next year, however, it still envisaged demand growth of 4.15 million bpd.
(EW correspondent)
