Oil rises 4% in week as energy crunch shows no signs of easing

Oil rose on riday, gaining about 4 on the week as a global energy crunch boosted .S. prices to their highest in almost seven years as big power users struggle to meet demand. Brent crude futures rose 0.5 , to settle at 82.39 a barrel. Earlier in the last week, the global benchmark hit a three-year high of 83.4 . West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 1.3 , to end at 9.35. That was the highest close for the .S. benchmark since Oct. 31, 2014. .S. gasoline futures also closed at their highest since October 2014 on

riday. Even with worldwide demand growing as economic activity rebounds from pandemic lows, OPEC last week said they would remain on the path of gradually bringing back production. Meanwhile the .S. government said it was monitoring energy markets, but it did not announce immediate action to lower prices, such as a release from strategic petroleum reserves, which further supported the oil market. .S. oil rigs rose five to 433 last week, their highest since April 2020, energy services firm Baker Hughes said. Global LNG prices soars on China power crunch, European demand

Asia liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices soared last week, as the world’s top buyer China faced an ongoing power crunch and low inventory in Europe drove up competition for the super-chilled fuel. The average LNG price for November delivery into Northeast Asia was estimated at about

3 per metric million British thermal units (mmBtu), up nearly 1 from the previous week, industry sources said. December delivery prices were estimated to be about 38 per mmBtu, they added. Also, freight rates to ship LNG rose last week and were at multimonth highs as the increase in LNG demand has been driven up the need for vessels to move supplies, sources said. .S. natural gas futures slipped 2 to a one-week low on riday on forecasts for mild weather to keep heating demand low through late October. ront-month gas futures fell 2 , to settle at 5.5 per mmBtu, their lowest close since Sept. 29. After an extremely volatile week of trade, the contract slipped about 0.5 last week after rising almost 40 during the prior six weeks. Earlier last week, the front-month soared over 9 to a 12-year high on Tuesday and collapsed over 10 on Wednesday.