Oil prices were set for weekly gains during the week ending June 14, supported by increased supply concerns and ongoing geopolitical risks in the oil-rich Middle East.
International benchmark Brent crude traded at $82.97 per barrel at 2.25 p.m. local time (1125 GMT) on Friday, rising by around 4.2% relative to the closing price of $79.62 a barrel on Friday last week.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the American benchmark, traded at $78.70 a barrel at the same time on Friday, an increase of about 4.2% from last Friday's session, which closed at $75.53 per barrel.
Increased supply concerns due to the decline in the number of oil drilling rigs in the US and ongoing geopolitical risks in the Middle East also supported price rises.
According to weekly data announced by oil field services company Baker Hughes, the number of oil drilling rigs in the country decreased by 4 to 492 in the week of May 1–7 compared to the previous week.
The number of oil drilling rigs in the US decreased by 64 year over year.
Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and in one of the world's most frequently used sea routes for oil and fuel shipments, the Red Sea, continue to impact oil prices.
Yemen's Houthi group said Thursday that it carried out attacks on three ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden over the past 24 hours.
Two people were killed and nine others injured in the US-UK airstrikes on Yemen's Raymah district, the Houthi group in Yemen announced Thursday.
'The US and UK carried out 22 airstrikes this week in the provinces of Sanaa, al-Hudaydah, and Raymah,' group leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a speech broadcast by the Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah channel.
Meanwhile, demand concerns in the US, the world's biggest oil consumer, put downward pressure on prices this week.
US commercial crude oil inventories increased by 3.7 million barrels to 455.9 million barrels during the week ending June 7, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration late Wednesday.
The inventory build, an indicator of weakening demand, was relative to the market prediction of a fall of around 1.2 million barrels.
Over the same period, gasoline inventories and strategic petroleum reserves also rose by approximately 2.6 million barrels and 300,000 barrels, respectively.
By Zeynep Beyza Kilic
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr