Oil settles lower; posts weekly, monthly loss

Oil drilling rigs

Oil prices continued to record weekly losses, dropping for the second consecutive month, as uncertainty looms on the oil markets, with concerns over weak demand outweighing potential supply shocks.

At the close of Friday's trading, Brent crude futures for October delivery—expiring today—fell by 1.45%, or $1.14, to $78.80 a barrel, recording weekly and monthly losses of 0.3% and 2.5%, respectively.

Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery dropped by 3.1%, or $2.36, to $73.55 a barrel, marking weekly and monthly losses of 1.7% and 4.3%, respectively.

Walt Chancellor, energy strategist at global financial services advisory firm Macquarie, said in an Aug. 27 investor note that despite the significant drop in the number of drilling rigs and the ongoing wave of mergers and acquisitions, US shale oil activity appears more resilient than we anticipated, particularly in the Permian Basin.

Data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of oil rigs in the US remained steady for the second consecutive weekat 483 rigs during the week ended Aug, 30.