Oil heads for weekly losses on global economic concerns

Oil prices continued to rise with the opening of the US market on Friday to rebound from a four-week low recorded earlier yesterday, heading for the first gain in the last six days, after a US Navy ship dropped an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz.

By 12:24 GMT, US crude rose to $55.80 per barrel from the opening price of $55.70 and recorded a high of $56.34 and a low of $55.66.

Brent crude rose to $62.64 per barrel from the opening price of $62.52 and recorded a high of $63.30 and a low of $62.52.

US crude fell yesterday by 1.6%, its fifth consecutive daily loss, hitting a four-week low of $54.76 per barrel. Brent crude lost 1.65% and hit $61.32 per barrel (the lowest since June 18).

The United States said a US Navy ship had dropped an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the ship. Iran, for its part, said it had no information about the plane.

The move comes after the United Kingdom pledged to defend shipping interests in the region, and after the recent attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf region, US Central Command chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said the United States will work hard to allow free passage.

This has once again raised concerns about tensions in the Middle East, which were eased earlier this week after US President Donald Trump said he had made significant progress with Iran and was not seeking to change the ruling regime in the Islamic Republic.

This week, global oil prices lost more than 7%, the biggest weekly loss since May, on signs of slowing global economy and weak fuel demand.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday lowered its forecast for world oil demand growth in 2019 to 1.1 million barrels from 1.2 million barrels due to the global economic slowdown due to the US-China trade war.

The agency's chief executive, Fatih Birol, said the prospects for global demand growth could be revised and lowered again if the world economy, especially Chinese economy, showed further weakness.