Aiming For A 6th Straight Week Of Gains

Brent crude has largely tracked sideways in Friday trade to date. We were last near $85.25/bbl, against an earlier high of $85.60/bbl and low of $85.06/bbl. This keeps us comfortably in ranges seen this past week. At this stage we are tracking modestly higher for the week (~0.30%), which if maintained would be the 6th straight week of positive gains. WTI is near $81.75/bbl currently, but sits comfortably above closing levels from the end of last week (+1.45% at this stage).

• For Brent, bulls will target mid April highs around $87.50/bbl. Support was evident yesterday on the pull back to $82.50, which also coincides with the 200-day EMA.
• Thursday's rebound was driven by Saudi Arabia announcing it will extend its 1mbpd voluntary production cut until end-September, while leaving the door open to “extend” and/or “deepen” them. Following this announcement, Russia’s Novak has said Russia will cut oil exports by 300kbpd in September, down from a voluntary cut commitment of 500kbpd in August.
• These developments are likely to overshadow the OPEC+ meeting later, which is due to “assess market conditions” in an online meeting Friday 2pm Vienna time.
• The other focus point will be the NFP report from a broader macro standpoint.
• Russia reported today the Novorossiysk Port halted traffic after a Ukrainian drone attack. However, oil loadings for moored tankers continues and there hasn't been any reported damage to key infrastructure.