Oil rallies for fourth straight week on tightening supply

Pumpjacks are seen during sunset at the Daqing oil field in Heilongjiang province, China August 22, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer

BENGALURU, July 21 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose nearly 2% on Friday to record a fourth consecutive weekly gain, buoyed by growing evidence of supply shortages in the coming months and rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine that could further hit supplies.

Brent crude futures rose $1.43, or 1.8%, to settle at $81.07 a barrel, with a weekly gain of about 1.2%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ended $1.42, or 1.9%, higher at $77.07 a barrel, its highest since April 25. WTI gained nearly 2% in the week.

"The oil market is starting to slowly price in a looming supply crunch," Price Futures Group analyst Phil Flynn said.

"Global supplies are starting to tighten and that could accelerate dramatically in the coming weeks. Increased war risk could also impact prices," Flynn said.

Russia hit Ukrainian food export facilities for a fourth day in a row on Friday and practised seizing ships in the Black Sea, in an escalation of tensions in the region since Moscow's withdrawal this week from a U.N.-brokered safe sea corridor agreement.

A shutdown of the grain corridor could hit supplies of ethanol and biofuels that are blended with oil products at a time that global grain markets are already tightening, which would lead to refiners using more crude oil, Flynn said.

The seizure of ships could also add risks to oil and other goods exports in the region, he added. The Kremlin on Friday said Ukraine's "unpredictable" actions pose a danger to civilian shipping in the Black Sea, and the situation around Russian exports requires analysis.

In the U.S., crude inventories (USOILC=ECI) fell last week, amid a jump in crude exports and higher refinery utilisation, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. Earlier on Monday, the EIA had forecast that U.S. shale oil and gas production was likely to decline in August for the first time this year, adding to concerns of supply tightness.

Meanwhile, U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs by seven, their biggest cut since early June, energy services firm Baker Hughes said. At 530, the U.S. oil rig count, an early indicator of future output, is at its lowest since March 2022.

UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told Reuters that current actions by OPEC+ to support the oil market were sufficient for now and the group was "only a phone call away" if any further steps were needed.

Chinese authorities unveiled plans to help boost sales of automobiles and electronics, a move welcomed by investors hoping that it would reinvigorate the country's sluggish economy.

Next week, preliminary purchasing manager surveys from S&P Global will be key for investors trying to understand changing global demand, Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management, said.

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Shariq reports on energy markets with a focus on US physical refined products and global financial oil markets. He is a regular contributor to energy M&A and corporate moves at top shale companies including oil majors and top oil focused private equity firms. He was nominated for 2020 Reuters journalist of the year for exclusive coverage of mass layoffs and bankruptcies in the shale patch during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shariq graduated in journalism and holds six years of experience covering energy equities and markets.Contact: 918884014512