Investing.com -- Crude oil prices drifted sideways on Friday amid a dearth of market-moving news, at the end of a week which has seen fears for global demand tempered by strong U.S. consumption patterns, as well as rising expectations that the long boom in U.S. shale output will come to a halt next year.
By 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT), U.S. crude futures were down 10 cents or 0.2% at $56.13 a barrel, having traded in a range of only 40 cents all day. The international benchmark Brent was down 0.2% at $61.55 a barrel.
That’s a sharp contrast from the big swings seen earlier this week in response to the U.S. government’s weekly inventories report, which showed demand holding up better than expected.
Gasoline Futures were 0.2% higher at $1.6670 a barrel, against the backdrop of comments from Valero, one of the U.S.’s biggest refiners, that it expected “continued product strength with inventories at lower levels” in the current quarter.
As with many others, Valero flagged the impact from new global standards on shipping fuel, which is pressuring demand for sour crudes and putting an increasing premium on sweeter blends (i.e., those with a lower sulfur content).
The International Maritime Organization, an arm of the United Nations, has mandated sulfur content in marine fuels be no more than 0.5% from the start of next year. That compares to a current limit of 3.5%.
Elsewhere, natural gas futures lost 1.0% to $2.29 per 10,000 MMBtu.