HOUSTON- Oil prices settled down more than $2 a barrel on Friday, posting a weekly decline as investors grappled with a fading Middle East risk premium alongside uncertainty about a potential peace deal in Ukraine.
Brent futures settled down $2.05, or 2.68 percent, to $74.43 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude settled down $2.08, or 2.87 percent, to $70.40.
Brent closed 0.4 percent lower on the week, while US crude futures posted a 0.5 percent weekly loss.
The relative calm in the Middle East as the Gaza ceasefire held has reduced risk in the market, said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital in New York.
Later in the day, analysts also pointed to media reports indicating that researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China said they discovered a new coronavirus in bats. Oil first slipped around $2 a barrel when those reports surfaced, according to analysts.
Investors also continued to weigh an uptick in US crude oil stockpiles, reported on Thursday, as seasonal maintenance at refineries led to lower processing, the Energy Information Administration said.
US energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a fourth week in a row to the highest level since June, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in a report on Friday.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by four to 592 in the week to February 21.
Traders kept an eye on potential oil supply disruptions, however, which capped some losses.
Russia said Caspian Pipeline Consortium oil flows, a major route for crude exports from Kazakhstan, were reduced by 30-40 percent on Tuesday after a Ukrainian drone attack on a pumping station.
