MW Oil heads for first weekly loss in 5 weeks

By Myra P. Saefong and Joseph Adinolfi

Oil futures inched lower in Friday trading, looking to post their first weekly loss in 5 weeks, as recent comments from President Donald Trump suggested he would pressured major oil producers to boost crude output.

Prices, which had settled a day earlier at their lowest in two weeks, had traded higher early Friday, finding support as surprisingly strong economic data out of Europe helped boost the euro and soften the U.S. dollar.

Price moves

-- West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery CL00 CL.1 CLH25 declined by 11 cents, or 0.2%, to $74.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices based on the front month traded 3.7% lower for the week, FactSet data show.

-- March Brent crude BRN00 BRNH25, the global benchmark, lost 21 cents, or 0.3%, at $78.08 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, trading more than 3% lower for the week.

-- February gasoline RBG25 shed 1% to $2.0448 a gallon, eying a weekly loss of over 3%, while February heating oil HOG25 gained 1.2% to $2.502 a gallon, trading down by 4.5% for the week.

-- Natural gas for February delivery NGG25 fell by 2.9% to $3.83 per million British thermal units, poised for a 3% weekly loss.

Market drivers

"Trump continues to raise the prospect of trade wars which could cause crude prices to rally," said Alex Hodes, director of energy-market strategy at StoneX, in Friday's newsletter. However, the president is also now calling for members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, including Saudi Arabia, to bring back more production, he said.

Trump's ties with Saudi Arabia will allow for the president to "have a hand in OPEC+ and encourage the group to crack into" its 5.5 million barrels per day of reserve production capacity to lower oil prices, said Hodes.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday said after a phone call with Trump that the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, according to the Associated Press, which cited a report from state-run Saudi Press Agency.

"Time will tell" if the Saudis and OPEC and their allies will cooperate with Trump's request, Hodes said.

Oil prices had declined on Thursday after Trump said he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil during comments delivered remotely to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

See also: Trump may have given the Saudis and OPEC the excuse they needed to boost oil production

Prices were on track to post a loss for the week, with U.S. benchmark poised Friday for a sixth straight session loss, as Trump signed executive orders this week intended to help boost U.S. production which is already running at record levels.

So far, the Trump presidency has "played out largely as predicted on the supply side," said Hodes. He's "cut red tape to promote domestic supply growth," proposed increases in sanctions, and called on OPEC to tap its spare capacity to step up production to fill the void, "in the hopes the Trump [administration] can fulfill campaign promises to lower energy costs."

Read: Trump promised to lower gas prices - but his tariffs could help raise them instead

Meanwhile, positive economic data from the eurozone helped boost prospects for energy demand, limited oil's losses Friday.

A preliminary reading on the composite eurozone Purchasing Managers' Index, published by S&P Global, rose to 50.2 in January, up from 49.6 in December. Readings above 50 on the index signal that activity is growing.

See also: Europe's cautious rebound overshadowed by Trump tariffs

-Myra P. Saefong -Joseph Adinolfi

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January 24, 2025 11:02 ET (16:02 GMT)

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