(Bloomberg) -- Oil headed for its best quarter in almost 10 years as the OPEC+ coalition’s production cuts and the loss of barrels due to U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela outweighed a wobbly demand outlook.
Crude futures rose as much 0.6 percent in New York and are set for a fourth weekly gain. Oil rallied with Asian stocks Friday after Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams (NYSE:WMB) downplayed the chances of a recession in the world’s largest economy. The market overcame a tweet by U.S. President Donald Trump saying oil prices are “getting too high” to finish up on Thursday.
Oil has clawed back most of its plunge in the final quarter of 2018 as Saudi Arabia led the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies in squeezing supplies to prevent a glut. Whether the U.S. will extend waivers allowing some countries to keep buying Iranian oil is shaping up as a key supply risk, while slowing global growth is keeping the market in check.
Oil’s rally is likely to continue through the second quarter as “the supply side risks are quite substantial,” said Daniel Hynes, a senior commodity strategist at ANZ Banking Group Ltd. in Sydney. “The feeling is that the U.S. is unlikely to extend” the Iran waivers, he said.
West Texas Intermediate for May delivery rose 34 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $59.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 10:48 a.m. in Singapore and traded as much as 36 cents higher earlier. The contract is up 1 percent for the week and 31 percent this quarter, on track for the biggest three-month gain since June 2009.
Brent for May settlement climbed 0.5 percent to $68.18 on the London-based ICE (NYSE:ICE) Futures Europe exchange. It’s risen 27 percent this quarter, also the most since June 2009. The global benchmark crude was at a premium of $8.55 to WTI.