Brent sees slight fall to $65.08 at week ending Mar. 8

By Gulsen Cagatay

ANKARA (AA) - International benchmark Brent crude decreased to $65.08 per barrel at GMT1207 while the price of American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell to $55.69 per barrel on Friday, with both benchmarks showing slight falls from trading start on Monday.

Brent opened Monday at $65.21 per barrel while WTI traded at $55.94 per barrel.

Crude oil prices were down at the opening of trading on Wednesday as two major American oil producers announced plans to boost their production over the next five years.

U.S. majors ExxonMobil and Chevron announced plans on Tuesday to each raise production in the Permian basin by around 1 million barrels per day (bpd) over the next five years.

The world's largest oil producer saw its crude output reach a new record high level of 12.1 million bpd for the week ending Feb. 22, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Furthermore, crude oil inventories in the U.S. outpaced market expectations for week ending March 1, according to data released by the EIA on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, even though the U.S.' crude oil production decreased slightly by 5,000 barrels per day (bpd), it remained at a record high of around 12.1 million bpd for the week ending March 1, the EIA data showed.

Oil price gains remained limited on Thursday after crude oil stocks in the U.S. surged much higher than expectations on Wednesday.

OPEC and Russia's oil production cuts, in addition to Washington's sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, have been restricting additional supplies from entering the global oil market and pushed prices marginally higher.

However, any further rise in oil price has been limited by the U.S.' record high crude oil production and with crude inventories in the country soaring to beat market expectations.

Oil prices started Friday on a lower note as investors expect weaker global oil demand following lower Eurozone growth estimates and declines in Chinese exports in February.