Oil market extends bull run
Brent crude futures were $0.26, or 0.4%, higher at $74.94 a barrel by 1220 GMT. PHOTO: FILE
Oil futures rose on Friday on course for a fourth weekly gain boosted by supply constraints and a weaker dollar and despite sources saying China is set to release crude reserves around the Lunar New Year.
Brent crude futures rose $1.09, or 1.3%, to a near 2.5 month high of $85.55 a barrel at 12:33 PM ET (1733 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.26, or 1.5%, to $83.36.
"People looking at the big picture realise that global supply versus demand situation is very tight and that is giving the market a solid boost," said Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group.
Flynn also added that traders did not want to be short in the market amid increasing tensions between Russia and Ukraine and ahead of a long (Martin Luther King Jr Day) weekend in the United States, which typically sees less than average volumes.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2022.
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