US Crude Claws Back Some Ground Lost to Brent

摘要

Brent oil dropped by more than $1 on Friday while US crude rose in thin, volatile trade ahead of the weekend as traders continued to weigh supply outages in Libya against US inventory levels. Brent crude found some early support from the ongoing supply disruptions in Libya before falling into negative territory in a bout of late selling ahead of the settlement. US crude rose early before giving up some gains as Brent collapsed, with traders weighing low winter stockpiles of "distillate" -- diesel and heating oil -- against high crude inventories. Traders said additional support for US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude came from short covering and a sell-off in the contract's discount to Brent. Brent's premium to WTI blew out to more than $19 a barrel on Wednesday, but settled down at $16.97 a barrel on Friday.