Oil futures post weekly losses on slow demand growth fears

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Benchmark oil futures eased by 1% to 1.5% in the week ending April 23, on concerns the surging numbers of COVID-19 cases across India will dampen demand in the for the second quarter.

North Sea Brent futures for June closed the week $0.66/b lower at $66.11/b, down 1% on the week, while US June WTI futures settled $0.99/b lower at $62.14/b, a fall of 1.6%.

Forecasters scaled back demand figures for India, with Asia's second largest oil consumer seen potentially losing over 500,000 barrels of diesel/gasoline in May as lockdowns are rolled out across the nation.

Meanwhile, the keenly watched Brent/WTI spread settled at $3.97/b, the widest spread since February.

Brent has fared better over the week with a force majeure declared at one of the main Libyan export terminals. Libya's flagship Es Sider is a light sweet crude, comparable to North Sea crudes. The force majeure helped bolster the Brent market, with June/July backwardation widening out to around $0.70/b, while the Brent/Dubai EFS moved up to a 16-month high of more than $3.50/b.