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Brent crude futures were down $1.16, or 1.8%, to $62.77 per
barrel, by 1150 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI)
crude futures fell $1.42, or 2.4%, to $59.10 a barrel.
Unusually cold weather in Texas and the Plains states curtailed
up to 4 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil production
and 21 billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to analysts.
Texas refiners halted about a fifth of the nation's oil
processing amid power outages and severe cold.
However, firms in the region on Friday were expected to prepare
for production restarts as electric power and water services
slowly resume, sources said.
"The market was ripe for a correction and signs of the power and
overall energy situation starting to normalise in Texas provided
the necessary trigger," said Vandana Hari, energy analyst at
Vanda Insights.
Oil fell despite a surprise fall in U.S. crude stockpiles in the
week to Feb. 12, before the freeze. Inventories fell by 7.3
million barrels to 461.8 million barrels, their lowest since
March, the Energy Information Administration reported on
Thursday.
The United States on Thursday said it was ready to talk to Iran
about both nations returning to a 2015 agreement that aimed to
prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
While the thawing relations could raise the prospect of
reversing sanctions imposed by the previous U.S. administration,
analysts did not expect Iranian oil sanctions to be lifted
anytime soon.
"This breakthrough increases the probability that we may see
Iran returning to the oil market soon, although there is much to
be discussed and a new deal will not be a carbon-copy of the
2015 nuclear deal," StoneX analyst Kevin Solomon said.
(Additional reporting by Roslan Khasawneh in Singapore and
Sonali Paul in Melbourne; editing by Jason Neely)
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