Oil rises further above $40 a barrel, on pace for 5% weekly gain

London (Mar 18)  Oil futures traded higher Friday, adding to their sizable weekly advance. The U.S. crude benchmark moved further above $40 a barrel, one day after settling above that level for the first time in 2016.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures for April delivery CLJ6, +1.57% rose by 37 cents, or 0.9%, to $40.57 a barrel after edging lower earlier. May Brent crude LCOK6, +1.42%  , the global benchmark, gained 33 cents, or 0.8%, to $41.87 a barrel. WTI is on track for a weekly gain of 5.4%, while Brent is up 3.7% for the week.

An attack Friday on a Statoil-BP project in Algeria could be providing some support to energy prices. Norway’s Statoil ASA STL, +0.52%  said Friday that the In Salah gas project in Algeria it operates jointly with BP PLC BP., +0.14% BP, +3.38%   had been struck by explosives.

It had no reports of casualties so far.

Oil and other dollar-denominated commodities have been getting a big lift by the dollar’s  drop following Wednesday’s more-dovish-than-expected signals from the Federal Reserve. The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.25% is on pace for a weekly drop of 1.2%, though it was up 0.2% on Friday.

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Ongoing hopes that an April 17 meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC crude oil exporters might lead to support for prices also has spurred buying this week, said Timothy Evans, an energy futures specialist at Citi, in a note.

Reports on Wednesday said members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are planning to meet with Russian energy officials and other crude producers in Doha, Qatar, next month to hash out a deal to limit output.

Oil prices could move at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, when a Baker Hughes report on North America’s oil and gas rig count is expected.

Source:MarketWatch