By Laila Kearney and Georgina McCartney
LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices were little changed on Friday but on track for a third consecutive weekly decline, pressured by muted demand in China and expectations of a Gaza ceasefire deal that could ease Middle East tensions and accompanying supply concerns.
Brent crude futures for September dipped 1 cent to $82.36 a barrel by 0744 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September fell 6 cents to $78.22.
The benchmarks have lost about 5% in the past three weeks. Brent is trading marginally lower this week while WTI is down more than 2%.
Chinese data this week showed the country’s apparent oil demand fell 8.1% to 13.66 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, prompting concerns over consumption, ANZ Research analysts said.
“The weakness is likely driven by gasoline and diesel, as rising new energy and autonomous driving vehicles become more popular,” ANZ said.
In the Middle East, hopes of a ceasefire in Gaza have been gaining momentum. The leaders of Australia, New Zealand and Canada called for an immediate ceasefire in a joint statement on Friday.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, has pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help efforts at reaching a ceasefire deal, striking a tougher tone than President Joe Biden.
A ceasefire has been the subject of negotiations for months, but U.S. officials believe the parties are closer than ever to an agreement for a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release by Hamas of women, sick, elderly and wounded hostages.
Oil price declines were capped, however, by threats to production from Canadian wildfires, a large U.S. crude stocks draw and continued hopes of a September cut to U.S. interest rates after strong economic data, said PVM oil analyst Tamas Varga.
(Reporting by Georgina McCartney in London, Laila Kearney in New York and Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore; Editing by David Goodman)
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