Brent crude futures for July delivery also fell 9 cents to $117.31 a barrel in early Asian trading, after rising to $118.17 earlier in the session. But benchmark crude is on track for a gain of about 4 percent this week.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $113.91 a barrel. US crude is also heading towards achieving a weekly gain of about 0.7 percent.
Both benchmark contracts are heading to end the week on a high as the European Commission continues to seek the support of all 27 member states of the bloc for the proposed new sanctions against Russia, as Hungary constitutes a stumbling block.
A senior Hungarian government aide said that his country needs between three and a half and four years to stop using Russian crude and pump huge investments to adjust its economy, and that it cannot support the oil embargo proposed by the European Union until an agreement is reached on all issues.
For his part, said Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACI Securities, “a combination of actual supply losses and a growing refusal to accept supplies from Russia will cause these two commodities (oil and gas) to rise significantly.”
Prices have increased nearly 50 percent since the beginning of this year.
And Reuters news agency quoted sources in OPEC + as saying that the group is expected to abide by the oil production agreement approved last year during its meeting scheduled for June 2, with an increase in production targets in July by 432,000 barrels per day, which represents a rejection of Western calls for increases. Faster production in order to curb higher prices.
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