Oil prices continued to rise on Friday, reaching a fifth consecutive week of gains, amid disagreements in Europe over a plan to ban crude oil imports from Russia in response to its military operation in Ukraine.
Crude oil prices recorded strong gains, with Brent oil climbing to around $114 a barrel in early trading before losing most of its gains.
By 7:00 am (GMT), benchmark Brent crude for July delivery traded at $111.67 a barrel, up 77 cents, or 0.69 percent.
Contracts for US West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose 74 cents, or 0.68 percent, to $109 a barrel.
Since the beginning of the week, oil prices have accumulated gains of about 7 percent, taking their gains to about 40 percent since the start of 2022, most of which was recorded since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine on February 24.
On Tuesday, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, submitted a proposal to phase out the import of Russian oil for six months and oil products until the end of 2022.
But EU countries that are almost entirely dependent on energy imports from Russia, such as Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, opposed the plan in its original form, forcing the Commission to amend it, granting instead a grace period of 3 months. from one to start implementing the ban.
For the plan to take effect, it must be unanimously ratified by the governments of the 27 EU countries.
Crude oil prices have been supported by the refusal of major producers in the Oak+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, to pump more oil to world markets to make up for the loss of supplies from Russia.
On Thursday, OPEC+ stuck to a cautious plan to increase production by 432,000 bpd over the next June, ignoring calls from the West, led by the US, to pump more oil into the markets to make up for the supply shortfall. and lower prices.
Source: El Iktisad
