Oil prices record 2% gains following dollar decline

Gulf Today Report 

Oil prices gained above 2 per cent on Friday as dollar declines and hope for crude glut being short-lived following a decline in US fuel stocks.

Brent crude oil futures for May settled up $1.73, or 2.6%, to $69.63 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude for April ended the session $1.58 or 2.5% higher, at $66.02.

Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates said. "we feel that the energy complex could remain in a stall well into next week with WTI bounded roughly by parameters of about $63 to $68 before any renewed up-spike." 

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The dollar recorded a third straight daily decline. Meanwhile, a massive drop in US gasoline stocks also helped in boosting oil prices.

US gasoline stocks fell by 11.9 million barrels to 231.6 million barrels in the previous week, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

According to OPEC, demand is likely to increase by 5.89 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 or 6.5% more than last month.