Oil prices increase as Russia prepares to cut production

By Sibel Morrow

ANKARA (AA) - Oil prices rose on Friday due to anticipated supply constraints as Russia prepares to reduce production in March; however, further gains were limited by a hefty rise in US crude oil stockpiles.

International benchmark Brent crude traded at $82.91 per barrel at 9.58 a.m. local time (0658 GMT), down 0.85% from the closing price of $82.21 a barrel in the previous trading session.

At the same time, American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) traded at $76.02 per barrel, a 0.83% increase after the previous session closed at $75.39 a barrel.

On Feb. 10, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia will cut crude oil production by 500,000 barrels per day in March.

Novak later announced that his country plans to send most of its oil exports to non-sanctioning countries.

Russia will sell 80% of its crude oil and condensate and 75% of its refined products to "friendly" countries, Novak said.

The commercial crude oil inventories of the US, the world’s largest oil consumer, increased by around 7.6 million barrels to 479 million barrels, against the market expectation of an increase of almost 9.9 million barrels, according to data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) late Thursday.

A more-than-expected stockpile increase signals a drop in crude demand, weighing prices down.

Dollar-indexed oil prices came under further pressure from the rising value of the greenback.

The US dollar index, which measures the value of the American dollar against a basket of currencies, including the Japanese yen, British pound, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona and Swiss franc, rose 0.03% to 104.56 early Friday.