Oil prices up for third week

Global oil prices showed gains on Friday with a fall in U.S. stocks after 15 successive weeks of increases and on concerns over a second wave of COVID-19.

International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $31.95 per barrel at 6.45 GMT on Friday, up from $29.52 per barrel on Thursday.

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate was trading at $28.28 at the same time on Friday compared to $25.58 a barrel on Thursday.

In the U.S., commercial crude oil inventories posted their first decline last week since January after 15 successive weeks of increases. Inventories decreased by 700,000 barrels against the market expectation of a rise of 4.1 million barrels, Anadolu Agency reported.

Signs of a gradual rebalancing in the global oil market can be seen, although these are still fragile, according to the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Thursday.