Oil Prices Suffer Weekly Loss Amid Reserves Release

The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery added 2.23 U.S. dollars, or 2.3 percent, to settle at 98.26 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery increased 2.2 dollars, or 2.2 percent, to close at 102.78 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

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The WTI and Brent dropped 1 percent and 1.5 percent for the week, respectively, based on the front-month contracts.
   
The weekly loss came as concerns over supply risks abated after multiple countries announced releasing their crude reserves.
   
The oil-consuming countries of the International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday on the coordinated release of 60 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves on top of a 180 million-barrel release announced by the United States last week.
   
"The massive release of oil from the emergency reserves that has been announced by consumer countries would likely ease the supply situation on the oil market noticeably," Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said Friday in a note.
   
Meanwhile, traders continued to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the outlook of fuel demand.