Oil prices end week post worst weekly loss since July

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Crude oil prices on Friday posted their worst weekly decline since July after Saudi Arabia restored its oil production much faster than anticipated in the aftermath of the drone attacks.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $61.09 per barrel at 1240 GMT for a 5% weekly loss, after ending the previous week at $64.28 a barrel.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $55.06 a barrel at the same time for a 0.52% weekly dip as it ended last week at $58.09 per barrel.

On Friday, both benchmarks posted a daily decrease of 1.8%.

The week ending July 19 saw big declines when Brent and WTI fell by 6.4% and 7.5%, respectively, according to official figures.

After losing 60% of its output from the drone attacks, Saudi Arabia restored much of its production over the last two days, surpassing 8 million barrels per day (bpd).

The restoration of supplies from the kingdom's crown jewel, Saudi Aramco, soothed worries that global oil supply would remain weak for the next few months, nudging prices lower.

While capacity from the Abqaiq oil-processing facility has been restored to 4.9 million barrels per day (mbpd), against the pre-attack capacity of 5.5 mbpd, production from the Khurais oil field is currently operating at 1.3 mbpd compared to the pre-attack level of 1.5 mbpd, according to news outlets.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Sept. 17 that his country aims to reach oil production of 11 mbpd by the end of September and up to 12 mbpd by the end of November.