HOUSTON — Oil prices $2 a barrel on Friday because of jitters about a possible increase in production by OPEC and its allies, while a weaker-than-expected US jobs report fed worries about demand.
Brent crude futures settled at $69.67 a barrel, down $2.03, or 2.83 percent. US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1finished at $67.33 a barrel, down $1.93, or 2.79 percent.
Brent finished the week with a gain near 6 percent, while WTI rose 6.29 percent.
Three people familiar with discussions among OPEC members and allied producers said the group may reach an agreement as early as Sunday to boost production by 548,000 barrels per day in September.
A fourth source familiar with OPEC+ talks said discussions on volume were ongoing and the hike could be smaller.
The US Labor Department said the country added 73,000 jobs in July, lower than economists had forecast, raising the national unemployment rate to 4.2 percent from 4.1 percent.
“We can blame US President Donald Trump with the tariffs or we can blame the Federal Reserve for not raising interest rates,” said Phil Flynn, senior analyst with Price Futures Group. “It looks like the Fed misjudged their decision on Wednesday.”
On Wednesday, the Fed voted to keep interest rates unchanged, drawing criticism from Trump and a chorus of Republican legislators.
Oil traders have focused for much of the week on the potential impact of US tariffs, with tariff rates on US trading partners largely set to take effect from next Friday.
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday imposing tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 41 percent on US imports from dozens of countries and foreign territories that failed to reach trade deals by his Aug. 1 deadline, including Canada, India and Taiwan.
