Oil prices end 3-day bull run on stronger dollar; Nigerian output slashed to 22-years low
Oil prices ended a three-day bull run on Friday, falling as a strong dollar made it more expensive to hold oil positions though losses were cushioned by Nigerian outages that have slashed output to the lowest in 22 years.
The dollar hit a two-week high against a basket of currencies on Friday, lifted by expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise rates again before any other major central bank.
The strong U.S. currency weighed on greenback-denominated commodities such as oil futures, making fuel imports more expensive for countries using other currencies and potentially hitting demand.
Global benchmark Brent crude futures were down 32 cents at $47.76 a barrel at 0833 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded at $46.20 a barrel, down 50 cents day on day.
Brent futures briefly turned positive in early European trading after traders said Exxon Mobil had declared force majeure on Nigerian Qua Iboe crude exports following mechanical problems with a pipeline.
The production glitch came after a number of other outages that have reduced Nigeria’s crude output to a 22-year low.
Nigeria’s finance minister told NTA television the country’s oil production had dropped to 1.65 million barrels per day (bpd) from 2.2 million bpd seen before the outages.
