2022.05.1309:46:00UTC+00Oil Prices Rise On Supply Side Factors

Oil prices rose on Friday as fears of an acute supply shortage outweighed concerns over a slowdown in global economic growth.

Benchmark Brent crude futures rose a little over 1 percent to $108.58 in European trade, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 0.9 percent at $107.11.

Both contracts were, however, on track to post declines of 2-3 percent for the week on demand concerns.

Reduced flows of Russian refined products such as diesel, fuel oil and naphtha have aggravated tightness in global markets.

There is increased pressure on Europe to secure alternative gas supplies after Moscow imposed sanctions on more than 30 EU, US and Singaporean energy companies.

Meanwhile, Russia threatened retaliation against Finland after Finnish leaders said the northern European nation must apply to join NATO "without delay."

Tightening sanctions on Russia's oil exports, including a planned European Union embargo, would take a heavy toll on the nation's oil industry and could set its crude oil output back by nearly two decades, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.

The EU is still working out details of the Russian embargo, as Hungary is opposing the ban because it feels it would be too disruptive to its economy.

Elsewhere, officials denied rumors that Beijing will be put into a Shanghai-style lockdown because of a persistent Covid-19 outbreak.