NEW YORK, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices rose on Friday, driven by renewed concerns over tight supplies.
The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery added 3.35 U.S. dollars, or 3.2 percent, to settle at 107.62 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery increased 3.07 dollars, or 2.8 percent, to close at 113.12 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The rally "was probably due in part to news of renewed production outages in Libya, where an oil company in the east of the country has had to suspend its production because of further political protests," Carsten Fritsch, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said Friday in a note.
Traders are also awaiting a key meeting by major oil producers as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, are set to meet next week to review the market and decide on output levels.
Over the past two sessions, oil prices retreated as market participants grew fearful about a recession and its impact on fuel demand.
For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark declined 0.3 percent, while Brent closed flat, based on the front-month contracts.
