Econintersect: After Thursday’s big swings, oil trading Friday was much more subdued but still managed to close with gains. In New York, WTI (West Texas Intermediate) closed at $96.98, up $1.20 (+1.3%). In London Brent crude closed up $0.84 (or +0.6%) at $112.09. The nearest NYMEX futures contract gained 0.6% to close up $0.60 at $97.88. The prices Friday reached the highest closing level since August and September, 2008.From Reuters:
- In London, ICE Brent reached was the highest weekly settlement since
the week to Aug. 31, 2008, when Brent closed at $114.05. - For the week, Brent crude rose $9.62, or 9.38 percent.
- NYMEX March RBOB RGH1 ended higher for the day and
closed the week at $2.7395, with a gain of 18.82 cents, or 7.38
percent. It was the highest weekly settlement since the week to
Sept. 12, 2008 - NYMEX March heating oil HOH1 settled higher at $2.9309,
ending the week’s gain of 21.8 cents, or 8.04 percent. It was
the highest weekly close since the week to Sept. 26, 2008.
One of the calming factors Friday was the announcement that Saudi Arabia has increased its oil production by more than 700,000 barrels per day to more than 9 million bpd to
compensate for disruption to Libyan output.
