Investing.com - Oil prices fell on Friday and were headed for their worst weekly decline since February despite assurances that exemptions from Iranian sanctions on crude would be temporary.
New York-traded West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 43 cents, or 0.68%, at $63.26 a barrel by 11:43 AM ET (15:43 GMT).
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the benchmark for oil prices outside the U.S., slipped 1 cent, or 0.01%, to $72.88.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed at a press conference on Friday that the U.S. would grant exemptions to sanctions on Iranian crude.
But he clarified that exemptions to sanctions on Iranian crude exports would be temporary, lasting only “weeks” to give jurisdictions time to wind down their imports.
Pompeo promised to give additional details on Monday.
Oil is on track for a weekly decline of 6%, following through on October’s sharp decline as worries of oversupply continue to pummel prices.
Saudi Arabia pledged earlier in the month to raise oil output to offset the fall from Iranian exports expected to be caused by the U.S. sanctions that go into effect on Nov. 4, while Russia also said on Saturday that there is no reason for the country to cut its production levels.
In that light, investors will pay close attention to the weekly rig count data from Baker Hughes at 1:00 PM ET (17:00 GMT). Last Friday’s data, an early indicator of future U.S. output, rose by two to 875, the highest since March 2015.
The U.S. has already become the world’s top crude producer, beating Russia, with output in August that reached a record 11.346 million barrels per day (bpd), a jump of 2.1 million barrels from August 2017, according to the Energy Information Administration.
In other energy trading, gasoline futures dropped 0.22% to $1.7127 a gallon by 11:44 AM ET (15:44 GMT), while heating oil fell 0.93% to $2.1804 a gallon.
Lastly, natural gas futures traded down 0.90% to $3.208 per million British thermal units.