UPDATE 9-Oil flat as Libya developments counter OPEC+ boost

* Libya's Haftar says he will lift oil blockade for month
* Wall Street falls in choppy trading; tech sell-off resumes
* Brent on track to rise 7.4% in week; WTI set for 9% gain
* OPEC+ pushes for better compliance with output quotas
* Goldman Sachs and UBS predict undersupply
* New storms forming as U.S. output resumes

(Updates with settlement prices, adds CFTC data)
By Stephanie Kelly
NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Oil prices were unchanged on
Friday, weighed after a Libyan commander said a blockade on the
country's oil exports would be lifted for a month, while
supportive signals from an OPEC+ meeting lifted futures.
Both the U.S. and Brent crude benchmarks posted weekly gains
after Saudi Arabia pressed allies to stick to production quotas,
Hurricane Sally cut U.S. production, and banks including Goldman
Sachs predicted a supply deficit.
Brent LCOc1 fell 15 cents to settle at $43.15 a barrel,
but rose 8.3% for the week. U.S. oil futures CLc1 rose 14
cents to settle at $41.11 a barrel, and gained 10.1% for the
week.
Market sentiment fell on Friday after eastern Libyan
commander Khalifa Haftar announced he would lift his blockade of
oil output for one month. The blockade slashed Libyan production
to just over 100,000 barrels per day now from around 1.2 million
bpd previously. It was unclear how quickly Libya could ramp up production.
Oil futures also tracked U.S. stock indexes, which broadly
fell. .N
"A risk-off mentality is sprinkling down to oil. There are
still concerns demand might get worse," said Phil Flynn, analyst
at Price Futures Group in Chicago.
On Thursday, though, the key panel for the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies pressed for
better compliance with oil output cuts against the backdrop of
falling crude prices.
Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told a gathering
on Thursday that the OPEC+ producer group could hold an
extraordinary meeting in October if the oil market soured
because of weak demand and rising coronavirus cases, according
to an OPEC+ source. "The alliance showed strength and reassured the market that
if further action will be needed to discipline sub-compliers and
balance the market, it would be taken," said Bjornar Tonhaugen,
Rystad Energy's head of oil markets.
Goldman Sachs predicted a market deficit of 3 million bpd by
the fourth quarter and reiterated its target for Brent to reach
$49 by year end and $65 by the third quarter of 2021.
Swiss bank UBS also pointed to the possibility of
undersupply, forecasting Brent would rise to $45 a barrel in the
fourth quarter and to $55 by mid-2021.
In the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. producers started rebooting rigs
following a five-day closure due to Hurricane Sally.

A tropical depression in the western part of the Gulf of
Mexico could become a hurricane in the next few days,
potentially threatening more oil facilities. The U.S. oil rig count, an early indicator of future output,
fell by one this week to 179, its lowest since mid-August,
energy services firm Baker Hughes Co BKR.N said. Money managers raised their net long U.S. crude futures and
options positions in the week to Sept. 15 by 30,970 contracts to
308,522, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
said on Friday. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
CHART: U.S. oil may retest resistance at $41.31 Brent oil may rise towards $43.80-$44.25 range
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>