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By Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil costs fell slightly on Friday, but remained close to a maximum of five months, as the easing of coronavirus blockades helped fuel demand as primary crude oil manufacturers attempted to restrict supply.
Brent futures fell cents, or 1.1%, to $44.38 a barrel at 0850 GMT, heading for a weekly drop of 0.9%.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 48 cents, or 1.1%, to $42.34, en route to a weekly profit of about 0.9%.
The eurozone’s economic recovery from its largest recession has stammered this month as repressed demand, triggered by the easing of closures in July, weakened to a vote on Friday.
In a sign of the slow recovery, India’s crude oil imports fell in July to their lowest point since March 2010 amid new coronavirus closures and refinery maintenance.
“In our view, demand is expected to reach pre-panemic grades until 2021 and the rest of 2020 will be a silent fight opposed to the effects of the wave for the time being,” Rep. Rystad Energy said in an e.
At the same time, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, adding Russia, have sought to have members who over-produced opposites their commitments reduce their production.
Reuters reported Thursday that an internal OPEC report showed that the organization was seeking oversupply between May and July offset by cuts this month and the following.
It also showed that OPEC expects oil demand in 2020 to fall to 9.1 million b/d, and up to 11.2 million b/j if there is a prolonged resurgence of coronavirus infections in the part of the year.
(Additional report through Sonali Paul in Melbourne and Koustav Samanta in Singapore; edited through David Goodman and Jason Neely)