WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices rose on Friday, moving past the $80 a barrel mark, amid expectations global oil demand will see a surge following announcement of fresh stimulus measures in China. Easing inflation, recent data showing a drop in inventories, and hopes of interest rate cuts helped as well.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June climbed to $80.06 a barrel, gaining $0.79 or more than 1%. WTI crude futures gained about 2.3% in the week.
Brent crude futures were up $0.71 or 0.85% at $83.98 a little while ago.
China today announced that it will begin a massive $1 trillion bond issuance this week.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed China's industrial growth accelerated in April, driven by robust exports.
Industrial production in China registered an annual increase of 6.7% after rising 4.5% in March, the data said. This was also better than the expected growth of 5.5%.
A report from Baker Hughes said total active rigs drilling for oil and gas in the U.S. increased by 1 to 604, rising for the first time in four weeks. Despite the gain, the total count was down by 116, or 16%, below this time last year.
Drilling rigs targeting crude oil in the U.S. added 1 to 497, while gas rigs were unchanged at 103 and 4 rigs remained classified as miscellaneous.
Markets look ahead to the upcoming meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and allies, collectively known as OPEC+. The group is widely expected to extend the current pace of production cuts into the third quarter.
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