Brent Ends Week in Green as WTI Falls on Conditional Stock Release
The Brent crude price ended the week in positive territory, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell. Initially, oil benchmarks were pressured by reports that France proposed releasing 50 million barrels of diesel from Europe and 50 million barrels of crude across IEA members, conditional on the US refraining from a unilateral diesel export ban.
However, after hitting lows of $88.06 per barrel for WTI and $95.12 per barrel for Brent, both benchmarks reversed course with no clear catalyst. French President Macron confirmed that diesel and crude stocks would be released over four months, and G7 leaders agreed to release up to 100 million barrels.
The energy space was also influenced by the weaker-than-expected US jobs report, which added to downward pressure on oil prices. The Baker Hughes rig count showed a slow-moving supply signal, with oil rigs up one at 456, natural gas rigs down two to 133, and total rigs down one at 598.
Market participants will be watching for any further updates from the Middle Eastern situation over the weekend. Coordinated IEA stock releases of this size often have a limited impact on prices in the short term, as the market tends to reprice based on how much of the release is incremental rather than pre-announced.