Crude posts biggest weekly gain in over two months

Bloomberg

Oil posted the biggest weekly rise in more than two months as shrinking stockpiles and supply disruptions from Canada to Libya compounded the growing isolation of OPEC’s third-largest oil producer.
Futures advanced 8.1 percent this week in New York, above London-traded Brent crude’s gain of 5.1 percent. The world’s two most important oil benchmarks are diverging as Saudi Arabia’s pledge to lift output weighs on the European marker. Meanwhile, US inventories are shrinking and Iranian crude production is expected to plunge 66 percent by the end of the year, according to Facts Global Energy, a research and consulting firm.
“The US market is significantly tighter compared to the seaborne market,” said Georgi Slavov, head of research at London-based commodities broker Marex Spectron. Russia, the Saudis and other nations are boosting production but “on the other side of the Atlantic, you don’t have this.”
Crude in the US has rallied more than $5 since last week’s decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allied producers to relax supply limits.