Oil heads for sixth week of gains on supply concerns

The oil prices rose on Friday, heading for a sixth straight week of gains, as geopolitical tensions continue to fuel supply concerns.

At 10:13 GMT, crude oil futures Brent They were up 63 cents, or 0.7%, at $89.97 a barrel, after hitting $91.04 on Thursday, their highest level since October 2014.

The futures of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) from the United States gained 49 cents, or 0.6%, to $87.10. WTI also hit a seven-year high at $88.54 earlier in the session.

Brent and WTI are on track to post what would be their longest weekly gain streak since October.

Tight supplies have pushed the six-month market structure for Brent into a sharp backwardation of $6.33 a barrel, the widest since 2013. This means that current price levels are higher than those in the coming months, which encourages traders to release crude from warehouses to sell quickly.

The oil prices continue to be supported by fears that the Ukraine crisis could disrupt the energy markets. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow does not want war with Ukraine.

“The risk premium on the oil price is now likely to be almost $10 a barrel,” said Carsten Fritsch, a commodities analyst at Commerzbank.

Price gains have been limited by the dollar strengthening US, which is on track for its biggest weekly rise in seven months on expectations of higher interest rates.

It is likely that the OPEC+ maintain a planned increase in its oil output target for March, multiple sources at the producer group told Reuters.

The Swedish bank SEB on Friday raised its price estimate for Brent crude to $85 a barrel for the first and second quarters of this year, $10 and $5 more, respectively.