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Brent crude futures were down 19 cents, or 0.23%, at $82.56 a
barrel by 1003 GMT. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude
futures lost 32 cents, or 0.41%, to $78.30.
Brent and the U.S. benchmark had gained nearly 4% over the week.
Price support came from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) this week after it stuck to a forecast for
relatively strong growth in global oil demand for 2024 while
Goldman Sachs projected solid U.S. fuel demand this summer.
The International Energy Agency, meanwhile, expects oil demand
to peak by 2029, levelling off around 106 million barrels per
day (bpd) towards the end of the decade, it said in a report on
Wednesday.
However, this week's price rally cooled somewhat after the U.S.
Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold, with the start of
rate cuts unlikely before December.
"In view of the still uncertain economic outlook for the major
economic regions, a further price increase is not to be expected
for the time being," said Commerzbank analyst Barbara Lambrecht.
Elsewhere, Russia pledged to meet its output obligations under
the pact among the OPEC+ group of producers after saying it
exceeded its quota in May.
"No matter how many times it promises to make up for poor
compliance at a future date, the market just sees more oil and
an agreement that might just possibly unravel," said PVM analyst
John Evans.
Market focus is also on Gaza ceasefire talks, which could
alleviate concerns about potential disruption to oil supply from
the region.
The U.S. is very concerned that hostilities on the
Israel-Lebanon border could escalate, a senior U.S. official
said, adding that specific security arrangements are needed for
the area and a ceasefire in Gaza is not enough.
(Reporting by Robert Harvey in London and Ashitha Shivaprasad in
SingaporeAddititonal reporting by Katya Golubkova in
TokyoEditing by David Goodman)
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