Oil prices settle up 2%, post weekly loss on stockpile releases | Reuters

Oil prices settle up 2%, post weekly loss on stockpile releases | Reuters

Oil prices rose 2% on Friday but notched their second straight weekly decline after countries announced plans to release crude from their strategic stocks.

Brent crude futures settled up $2.20, or 2.19%, at $102.78 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $2.23 to $98.26.

For the week, Brent dropped 1.5% while WTI slid 1%. For several weeks, the benchmarks have been at their most volatile since June 2020.

Trading was choppy all day and the contracts spiked higher just before settlement as traders covered short positions ahead of the weekend, said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC.