Brent crude up on Middle East risks; USA oil down on glut

The Turkish army says the plane was shot down by two Turkish F-16s after it had violated Turkish airspace 10 times within a five-minute period.

OPEC’s decision in November 2014 to maintain high output despite falling prices accelerated a decline in oil price from peaks of more than $100 a barrel earlier in the year.

USA oil futures fell on worries over a supply glut, although market activity was subdued due to a U.S. holiday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande, meeting in Washington, urged against an escalation, while NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance stood in solidarity with Turkey.

United States crude oil futures dipped on Wednesday on profit-taking after the prices rallied to a two-week high on the previous session due to heightening geopolitical tensions in the Middle East with Turkey’s downing of a Russian warplane.

SINGAPORE, Singapore-Oil prices traded below $43 in Asia Friday as U.S. markets took a break for Thanksgiving and Russian Federation ruled out a military strike against Turkey for shooting down one of its warplanes.

Brent North Sea crude for January shed 67 cents compared with Tuesday’s close to $45.45 a barrel.

At about 1730 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January jumped 1.43 at 43.18 a barrel.

Crude oil futures rose yesterday after Saudi Arabia pledged to work toward oil price stability, while a strong US dollar and an expected rise in US Crude stocks kept the gains in check.

Data from the US Department of Energy released Wednesday showed the country’s commercial crude supplies rose by 1.0 million barrels for the week ending November 20. “But not this year because most people are more concerned about the persistent imbalance in supply and demand”, said Gao Jian, a Shandong-based commodity analyst at SCI International.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, gained 0.02 percent at 99.813, making the currency-denominated oil futures more expensive to other currency holders.

Global oil production is outpacing demand following a boom in US shale oil production and after a decision by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries a year ago not to cut production.