Crude Prices were seen trading slightly mixed on Friday as analysts awaits US jobs reports later in the day.
WTI for March delivery came in 0.15% lower trading at $97.70 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the time of writing, at the same time Brent for March settlement gained 0.18% to $107.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Brent crude was at a premium of $9.69 to the North American crude.
The jobless claims in the US dropped by 20,000 to 331,000 in the week ending February, compared to the revised figures of 351,000 seen in the previous week, reports from the Labour Department confirmed.
The nonfarm payrolls data which is expected to be released later during the day is forecasted to show 180,000 new jobs added in the US in January according to analysts, after a 74,000 gain was seen in the previous month.
Libya’s production has ranged from 450,000 to 500,000 barrels per day; however the production is still below the previous figures of 600,000 barrels seen last week, according to Nuri Berruien, chairman of National Oil Corp.
Libya is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and holds the largest crude reserves in Africa.
Meanwhile in China, the HSBC services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) dropped to 50.7 in January, compared to the previous reading of 50.9 in December.
In Australia, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released its quarterly statement on Monetary Policy. The bank revised its gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the year till June 2014 from 2.5% to 2.75% in the last monetary policy statement. While forecasts for the year ending December 2014, the gross domestic product (GDP) is forecasted to rise between 2.25% and 3.25%.
According to the EIA, refineries operated at 86.1% of their capacity in the week ending January 31, the lowest since October.
Distillate inventories, including heating oil and diesel declined for a fourth week in the week ended January 31, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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