Oil heads for third straight week of gains as supply tightens | Reuters

Oil heads for third straight week of gains as supply tightens | Reuters

Oil prices rose to a near three-year high on Friday and headed for a third straight week of gains, supported by global output disruptions and inventory draws.

The rally was slightly dampened by China's first public sale of state crude reserves.

Brent climbed 53 cents, or 0.7%, to $77.78 a barrel by 10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 40 cents, or 0.6%, to $73.70.

Brent is on track for its highest close since October 2018 for a second day in a row and WTI is on track for its highest close since July this year, also for a second day.

It would be the third week of gains for Brent and the fifth for WTI mostly due to disruptions in U.S. Gulf Coast output after Hurricane Ida in late August.