WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil futures settled higher on Friday on concerns about a possible attack on Iran's oil facilities by Israel in retaliation for the former's attack earlier in the week. Upbeat U.S. jobs data also contributed to the rise in oil prices.
Oil prices pared some early gains after U.S. President Joe Biden sought to discourage Israel from attacking Iran's oil facilities.
Oil also found some support on reports Libya's state-run oil company has said it is restarting full oil production, almost two months after shutting down operations in two of its major fields amid a political crisis.
Also, OPEC and allies, collectively known as OPEC+, is sitting on a large amount of spare crude that could help bridge the shortfall in the event of any supply deficiency in the market, according to analysts.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $0.67 or about 0.91% at $74.38 a barrel, a five-week high. WTI crude futures gained more than 9% in the week.
Brent crude futures gained $0.43 or about 0.55% at $78.05 a barrel. The contract gained nearly 8.5% in the week.
Data from the Labor Department showed U.S. non-farm payroll employment jumped by 254,000 jobs in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in August. Economists had expected employment to rise by 140,000 jobs compared to the addition of 142,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
The report also showed the unemployment rate edged down to 4.1% in September from 4.2% in August. Economists had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged.
The stronger than expected jobs growth has eased concerns about the economic outlook, and raised hopes of increased demand for oil.
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