Both were slightly higher than Thursday’s close but had been trending downward since Monday, with Brent losing 8.3% and WTI falling 7.4% over the week.
Analysts said that the possibility of higher OPEC+ supply, along with slower global crude refinery activity due to maintenance and a seasonal drop in demand in the coming months, is likely to weigh on market sentiment.
Eight OPEC+ countries are expected to boost oil output further on Sunday, with Saudi Arabia advocating for a significant increase to reclaim market share. However, some analysts have expressed doubts about the scale of the proposed production hike.
Crude oil exports from Kirkuk province in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region to Turkey’s Ceyhan oil terminal resumed on Saturday, October 25, following an agreement between Baghdad, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and eight international oil companies to end a two-and-a-half-year halt of the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline. The deal permits a daily flow of 180,000 to 190,000 barrels of crude oil.
On Friday, a fire broke out overnight at Chevron’s (CVX.N) El Segundo refinery. Built in 1911, this facility is the company’s largest oil refinery on the U.S. West Coast, processing over 276,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
In a joint statement released midweek, G7 finance ministers vowed to tighten sanctions on entities that continue to buy or facilitate Russian oil imports. At the same time, reports emerged that the U.S. plans to provide Ukraine with intelligence to support long-range missile strikes on Russian energy infrastructure—a move that could disrupt pipelines, refineries, and transport routes critical to Russia’s oil exports.
Adding to the pressure, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that crude inventories rose by 1.8 million barrels to 416.5 million barrels for the week ending September 26, surpassing expectations of a 1 million-barrel increase. This rise reflects slower refining activity and weak fuel demand.

As weak demand remains the dominant trend, while supply continues to be more than sufficient to meet it, export bitumen prices declined across most regions worldwide last week, with the drop being more pronounced in European markets.
In Rotterdam and the Baltic region, export cargoes fell by $14 and $16 respectively, to $409/t and $406/t.
In Italy and Spain, prices also dropped by $14, settling at $384/t and $386/t, respectively.
Bitumen cargo prices fell by $14 to $372 per ton, following a drop in Mediterranean HSFO cargo values, which in turn reflected the sharp losses in Brent crude futures since late September.
Singapore’s export bitumen prices declined amid persistently weak demand and elevated regional inventories.
In Singapore and Thailand, prices fell by $5, reaching $403 and $405 per ton, respectively.
Conversely, in South Korea, export bitumen prices edged up by $2 to $396/t.

Iran’s export bitumen cargo prices edged lower due to weaker demand from Southeast Asia and the depreciation of the rial against the U.S. dollar. However, the rise in vacuum bottom feedstock prices partly offset further declines.