Crude oil prices ended slightly lower on Friday, as worries about near term energy demand outlook amid a surge in new coronavirus cases weighed on the commodity.
Meanwhile, several oil companies have reportedly begun to restart operations following Hurricane Laura moving past Louisiana and Texas without causing any big damage to the upstream or downstream oil facilities.
West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $0.07 or about 0.2% at $42.97 a barrel.
For the week, WTI crude oil futures gained about 1.5%.
Brent Crude futures were lower marginally at $45.04 a barrel.
The focus shifted from production outages to demand destruction as Covid-19 cases continues to surge, and the economic scenario continues to appear mixed.
Spain, France and Germany have reportedly recorded their highest number of daily infections since April.
The World Health Organization has warned of a possible uptick in hospitalizations and mortality rates in Europe during the winter.
The recent data showing U.S. unemployment remaining historically high weighed as well on crude oil prices.
Meanwhile, data from Baker Hughes said weekly oil-rig count dropped by 3 to 180 this week.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company - www.instaforex.com
source http://www.mt5.com/forex_news/quickview/2162868/
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