LONDON :Oil prices were flat on Friday and heading for a second consecutive weekly loss, as investors weigh a potentially larger OPEC+ output hike for July, and uncertainty spreads around U.S. tariff policy after the latest courtroom twist.
Brent crude futures fell by 9 cents, or 0.14 per cent, to $64.06 a barrel by 1201 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell by 15 cents, or 0.25 per cent, to $60.79 a barrel.
The Brent July futures contract is due to expire on Friday. The more liquid August contract was trading 19 cents lower, or 0.3 per cent, at $63.16 per barrel.
At these levels, the front-month benchmark contracts were headed for weekly losses of a little over 1 per cent.
Price moves dipped into negative territory after Reuters reported that OPEC+ may discuss an increase in July output larger than the 411,000 barrels per day (bpd) that the group had made for May and June.
“The oil price would probably only come under greater pressure if the oil-producing countries were to increase their production even more than in previous months or give indications that there will be similarly high production increases in the following months,” Commerzbank analysts said earlier on Friday in a note, published before the news.
The potential hike comes as the global surplus has widened to 2.2 million bpd, likely necessitating a price adjustment to prompt a supply-side response and restore balance, said JPMorgan analysts in a note, adding they expect prices to remain within the current range before easing into the high $50s by year-end.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs were expected to remain in effect after a federal appeals court temporarily reinstated them on Thursday, reversing a trade court’s decision a day earlier to put an immediate block on the sweeping duties.
Oil prices were down more than 1 per cent on Thursday.
The appeals court’s decision pushed Brent to the bottom of its recent tight range, Investec’s head of commodities Callum Macpherson said.
“The narrow $63-67 per barrel range that has confined Brent for much of this month might be hard to sustain given the uncertainties facing oil markets,” Macpherson said.
Oil prices have lost more than 10 per cent since Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2.
