Oil futures climbed on Friday, contributing to a more than 1% weekly gain in U.S. benchmark crude prices. The market saw a sharp decline Thursday on expectations that OPEC+ wasn’t likely to cut production at its meeting next month, but “the risk of further sharp falls is being mitigated somewhat by the fact that the markets know the U.S. government is a buyer[of oil] below $70,” as it looks to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK. July West Texas Intermediate crude CLN23, +1.45% rose 84 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $72.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, with prices for the front-month contract up 1.4% for the week, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
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