Oil prices maintained their gains during early Friday trading, continuing the upward trend sparked by production disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico in the United States, where Hurricane Frances forced producers to evacuate platforms before hitting the Louisiana coast.
Brent crude futures rose 34 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $72.31 a barrel by 0016 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose about 38 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $69.35 a barrel.
If these gains continue, both benchmarks will halt a series of weekly declines, despite a tough start to the week that saw Brent fall below $70 a barrel on Tuesday for the first time since late 2021.
At current levels, Brent is expected to record a weekly increase of about 1.7 percent, and West Texas Intermediate by more than 2 percent.
Official data showed that nearly 42 percent of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico region was shut down as of Thursday.
The supply shock helped oil prices recover from a sharp sell-off earlier in the week, with demand concerns sending both crudes to multi-year lows.
Both OPEC and the International Energy Agency this week cut their demand growth forecasts, citing economic difficulties in China, the world’s largest oil importer.
China’s crude oil imports fell 3.1 percent on average this year from January to August, compared with the same period last year, customs data showed on Tuesday.
Demand concerns in the United States have also grown. U.S. gasoline and distillate futures hit multi-year lows this week as analysts highlighted weaker-than-expected demand in the world’s biggest oil consumer.
U.S. oil and fuel inventories rose last week as demand fell sharply, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday.
