Crude-oil and refined product futures prices were pulling back, but remained on track for solid week-to-week gains.
The declines Friday came as markets continue to react to a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas and some profit-taking following a string of price increases.
U.S. crude contracts were off by less than 1%. The Nymex February West Texas Intermediate crude contract, which is set to expire next week, was off by 72cts to $77.96/bbl. The more active March WTI contract was 47cts lower at $77.38/bbl.
The March Brent crude contract was off by 52ct to $80.77/bbl and April Brent was down by 34cts to $79.57/bbl.
WTI prices were nearly 2% above where they began the week.
Diesel futures were leading refined products lower, with the Nymex February ULSD contract 1.91cts lower at $2.5981/gal. Still, prices are up by about 4% from the Jan. 10 settlement. The March ULSD contract was off by 1.71cts to $2.5492/gal.
The Nymex February RBOB contract was 0.87ct lower at $2.1145/gal and the March RBOB contract was down by 0.47ct to $2.1478/gal.
As with WTI, most of Friday's trading in refined products futures was focused on the next-month contract.
Gasoline futures are up about 2% week to week and have risen by more than 8% over the last 30 days. Those increases are being felt by drivers, as the average U.S. retail price of regular gasoline at $3.1151/gal on Friday, the highest since the start of November.
Futures prices have been rising as President Biden, who worked to lower pump prices for much of his term, imposed stricter sanctions on Russian energy exports.
Retailers are also being impacted by the higher futures prices, with the national average rack-to-retail margin for gasoline at 31.7cts/gal, according to OPIS MarginPro data. While that is 1.8cts higher than Thursday, it is down 5.2cts from last week and 11cts lower than a month ago.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
-- Reporting by Steve Cronin, scronin@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-17-25 1237ET