Brent held above $108 a barrel on Friday, hovering near a three-month high on hopes of a steady recovery in US demand following strong economic data and reassuring comments from the Federal Reserve on monetary stimulus.
New claims for jobless benefits fell in the world’s biggest economy and key factory data improved, close on the heels of a steep drawdown in US crude stocks for a third straight week, supporting oil price gains. But analysts said the sharp rally in prices, nearly 10 percent for Brent and 17 percent for US crude in less than four weeks, may have been overdone given ample global supplies. Brent crude climbed to an intra-day high of $108.93 per barrel and was unchanged at $108.70 a barrel by 0641 GMT. The benchmark, which hit a three-month peak of $109.72 on Tuesday, is also mostly unchanged for the week. US oil fell 12 cents to $107.92, after settling at a 16-month high of $108.04, and is set to rise for a fourth week. “There a few key things that have happened in the market recently and one of them is the steep drawdown in crude stocks, which shows someone is buying a lot of oil and that is being used more for production,” said Jonathan Barratt, chief executive of Sydney-based commodity research firm Barratt’s Bulletin.
