Weekly drop in oil prices owing to indications of poor Asian demand

 Weekly drop in oil prices owing to indications of poor Asian demand

At 01:36 GMT, U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures increased by 64 cents, or 0.9%, to $69.98 a barrel, while Brent crude futures increased by 68 cents, or 0.9%, to $74.73 a barrel.

While oil prices increased in early trade on Friday, investors were concerned about poor energy demand in Asia combined with greater US crude supply, and they were on course to lose 6% for the week, or almost to a six-month low.

At 01:36 GMT, U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil futures increased by 64 cents, or 0.9%, to $69.98 a barrel, while Brent crude futures increased by 68 cents, or 0.9%, to $74.73 a barrel.

In the previous session, both benchmarks dropped to their lowest points since late June. Brent and WTI are also in contango, a market structure where prices for next month trade at a discount to prices half a year later, suggesting that traders feel the market is oversupplied.

This week's decline in the oil market has been spurred by worries about China's economic situation.

Crude imports decreased by 9% in November compared to the same month last year, according to Chinese customs statistics. This decline was caused by excessive inventories, poor economic indicators, and sluggish orders from independent refiners.

November saw a decline in petroleum use in India, the world's third-largest oil consumer, as travel declined after a four-month high in October.

Though the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, or OPEC+, just agreed to reduce production, Brent and WTI oil futures are expected to decline 5.8% and 6%, respectively, this week.

For the first quarter of the next year, OPEC+ decided to implement a total of 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) of voluntary production cutbacks.

The two largest oil exporters, Saudi Arabia and Russia, urged all OPEC+ members to sign onto the production reduction pact on Thursday in order to benefit the world economy.

US production stayed close to a record high of more over 13 million barrels per day, according to statistics released by the US Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.