Crude oil futures rose slightly in pre-holiday trade Friday, set to rebound after a four-day pullback, as economic worries over high interest rates curbed investor appetite in energy commodities.

Trading activity was lighter than usual as some traders were away from their desks ahead of a U.S. Memorial Day three-day weekend. In addition, some energy market participants stayed on the sidelines in anticipation of possible news ahead of the latest policy meeting by OPEC and its allies, or OPEC+, scheduled on June 1.

At 11:30 a.m. ET, the NymexJuly West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed 65cts to $77.5/bbl, on track to snap four straight days of losses. August WTI was 60cts higher at $77.05/bbl.

London-based July Brent also increased by 55cts to $81.9/bbl, and August Brent gained 55cts to $81.65/bbl.

For the week, both crude oil benchmarks are set to fall around $2/bbl despite Friday's gain.

Refined products mostly track crude to trade higher after declines earlier in the week. Most active July ULSD inched lower by 5pts to $2.4285/gal and front-month June ULSD edged down by the same amount to $2.4105/gal. July RBOB increased by about 1ct to $2.466/gal and June RBOB was ahead by 1.2ct to $2.481/gal.

Petroleum and equity markets came under pressure this week following the latest comments by Federal Reserve policymakers on waiting longer to cut interest rates to ensure inflation is in check. A weaker global economy due to high interest rates does not bode well for crude and refined product prices.

All eyes are on gasoline demand ahead of the Memorial Day holiday, which marks the unofficial start of the summer driving season that is all important for refiners. Preliminary data from the OPIS Demand Report, which tracks data from 30,000 gas stations across the U.S., showed average station gasoline demand was down about 1.1% for the week ended May 18 compared to a week ago.


This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.


--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Deanna Mendoza, dmendoza@opisnet.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-24-24 1236ET