Oil headed the first weekly gain in a month in New York after U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in four years and rising tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil supply concerns disrupted.
Oil was little changed after rising 0.9 percent in the session yesterday. Initial jobless claims fell to 339,000 last week, the lowest level since February 2008, according to Labor Department data. Brent oil traded near the highest margin in the year against West Texas Intermediate after Turkey said Syria has banned planes fly due to load ammunition. OPEC production fell to an eight-month, the International Energy Agency said today in its monthly oil market report.
Crude oil for November delivery was at $ 92.05 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 2 cents. The contract yesterday rose 82 cents to $ 92.07. Oil prices rose 2.4 percent this week and down 6.9 percent this year.
Brent oil for November delivery on the ICE Futures Europe exchange based in London fell 89 cents to $ 114.82 per barrel. Trade gap between Europe European crude benchmark WTI oil amounted to $ 22.82, down from $ 23.64 in the session yesterday, the biggest margin since October 2011.