Oil prices headed for a sharp weekly decline, while the International Energy Agency warned of a potential supply glut.
Benchmark crude prices were largely flat on Friday at around $80 a barrel, down more than 25% from a month ago. The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz after months of closure could unleash millions of barrels of previously stranded oil shipments, and Reuters noted technical trading indicators pointed to further price declines.
The IEA projected “a significant overhang emerging next year” as shipping through the strait rebounded, but OPEC — typically more buoyant about oil demand than the IEA — told CNBC that projection was “not really based on facts and figures.”
