Oil falls below $65/bbl in first weekly drop since November - Reuters

Oil falls below $65/bbl in first weekly drop since November - Reuters:

Oil fell below $65 a barrel on Friday in its first weekly loss since late November, erasing the week’s risk premium added since a U.S. drone strike killed a top Iranian general as investors focused on rising U.S. inventories and other signs of ample supply.

However, markets were still eyeing the longer-term risks of conflict, and prices were briefly supported on Friday by new U.S. sanctions on Iran in retaliation for its missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq this week.

Also, a Russian navy ship “aggressively approached” a U.S. Navy destroyer in the North Arabian Sea on Thursday, the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said in a statement on Friday.

Brent crude LCOc1, the global benchmark, settled at $64.98, down 39 cents. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 fell 52 cents to end at $59.04.

“With the standing down of Iran there was a sense that oil supplies were pretty safe but now with the institution of sanctions and this report that a Russian ship was acting aggressively toward a U.S. ship, it’s put a little bit of fear back into the market place,” said Phil Flynn, oil analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

For the week, Brent had a 5.3% loss and WTI had a 6.4% decline, with both benchmarks now below where levels were before the U.S. drone strike killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3.