UPDATE 11-Oil steady on weak U.S. stock market, heads for weekly loss

* Both benchmarks post second straight weekly drop
* Rising infection rate in several countries weighs
* U.S. oil & gas rig count falls for the first time in four
weeks

(Updates to settlement)
By Devika Krishna Kumar
NEW YORK, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices were little changed
on Friday, but posted their second straight weekly lost as
investors expect a global glut to persist due to sagging demand
with COVID-19 cases rising in some countries.
Brent LCOc1 ended the session down 23 cents, or 0.6%, at
$39.83 a barrel while U.S. crude CLc1 settled up 3 cents at
$37.33 a barrel. Both benchmarks were down about 6% for the
week.
Infections are growing faster in India than anywhere else,
and the health ministry reported another record daily jump of
96,551 new cases on Friday, taking the official total to 4.5
million. U.S. stock markets also posted their second straight weekly
decline as recent economic indicators suggested a long and
difficult recovery from the pandemic.
"The financial markets are continuing to set the tone,
including on the oil market... fears about an oversupply have
added to the general feeling of uncertainty," Commerzbank
analysts said in a note.
Also dampening market sentiment, the U.S. Senate killed a
Republican bill that would have provided around $300 billion in
new coronavirus aid. In the United States, crude stockpiles rose 2 million
barrels last week, against expectations, as refineries slowly
returned to operations after production sites were shut due to
storms in the Gulf of Mexico. EIA/S ENERGYUSA
U.S. drillers also have lately been adding to oil and gas
rigs, but the count dipped this week to 238. RIG/U
In a further bearish sign, traders were starting to book
tankers again to store crude oil and diesel, amid a stalled
economic recovery as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Increasing stockpiles are likely to be a subject at a
meeting on Sept. 17 of the market monitoring panel of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and
allies including Russia.
The group known as OPEC+ has been withholding supply to
reduce stockpiles. Following Saudi Arabia, Kuwait also lowered
its official selling price to Asia for October, to counter
slower demand.

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