Oil stays the same, heading for a weekly gain despite rising demand and nervous supply

Oil prices held steady on Friday and were poised for a weekly increase as demand in China and the United States improved. Support was also provided by worries about Russian supply disruptions. Brent futures dipped 3 cents to $76.45 a barrel by 0414 GMT while U.S. Crude oil from West Texas Intermediate decreased by 4 cents to $72.44. This week, both indexes have gained more than 2%, the most since the beginning of January. Brent would be marking a second week of gains after three weeks of declines. After four weeks of declines, WTI is expected to see its first week of gains. Global oil demand has averaged 103.4 million barrels per day (bpd) through February 19, a 1.4 million bpd increase, JPMorgan analysts said in a note on Friday.
They expect cold weather in the U.S. and increased industrial activity in China as people return from holidays to contribute more demand in the coming week.
The Energy Information Administration reported on Thursday that seasonal maintenance at refineries resulted in a reduction in processing, which resulted in an increase in U.S. crude oil stocks but a decrease in gasoline and distillate inventories last week. [EIA/S]
According to Fujitomi Securities analyst Toshitaka Tazawa, “drawdowns of U.S. gasoline and distillate stockpiles, along with concerns over tight supplies in Russia, are supporting oil prices.” “Due to Ukraine’s hardened stance, expectations for a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, which could ease sanctions on Moscow, have faded somewhat,” he added. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was enraged earlier in the week by U.S. and Russian moves to negotiate a peace deal without Kyiv and comments by the U.S. President Donald Trump blaming Ukraine for starting the three-year-old conflict with Moscow.
However, following a meeting with Trump’s envoy for the Ukraine conflict on Thursday, Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to work quickly to produce a strong agreement on investments and security with the United States.
U.S. Thursday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television that Russia’s willingness to negotiate an end to its war in Ukraine could help it get some relief from U.S. sanctions. Oil supply disruptions continued to drive up prices in the meantime. Russia said Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil flows, a major route for crude exports from Kazakhstan, were reduced by 30%-40% on Tuesday after a Ukraine drone attack on a pumping station.
Industry sources reported on Thursday that Kazakhstan has pumped record volumes of oil despite damage to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), its primary export route via Russia. How Kazakhstan had been able to pump record volumes was not immediately clear.