Due to concerns about the recession, oil prices fell 1.5% for the week

Despite Friday's stability, oil prices fell for the week due to a stronger dollar and concerns that a slowing economy would reduce demand for petroleum.

Brent crude futures gained 13 cents to close at $96.72 a barrel. At $90.77, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude finished 27 cents higher. Both benchmarks experienced a weekly decline of around 1.5%.

On remarks made by Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin that the Fed would balance its rate hike course with uncertainties over any economic impact, oil momentarily rose in the choppy market. Crude, however, gave back some of its gains as investor worries about imminent rate hikes returned.

The U.S. dollar's strength reached a five-week high, which further limited crude's gains by increasing the price of oil for buyers using foreign currencies.

According to Jim Ritterbusch of oil trading consultancy firm Ritterbusch & Associates, "the oil complex has been able to shrug off a strong dollar on any one session, but protracted strong dollar trends will represent a big hurdle to sustainable oil price advances."

The price difference between prompt and second-month Brent futures has decreased by approximately $5 a barrel since the end of July to around $1, which is a hint that the tightness in the oil supply is receding. WTI's gap has decreased from about $2 in late July to only 39 cents today.

The new secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Haitham Al Ghais, told Reuters that he was confident in the demand for oil through 2023.

Al Ghais stated ahead of a meeting on September 5 that OPEC is determined to ensure that Russia stays a member of the OPEC+ group.

When European consumers start looking for substitute sources to replace Russian oil ahead of European Union sanctions that go into force on December 5, supplies could become constrained once more.

The consultancy FGE stated in a note that the EU will need to replace 1.2 million barrels per day of seaborne Russian oil imports with petroleum from other locations.

The world's leading exporter of crude oil, the United States, shipped a record 5 million barrels per day last week, according to data released earlier this week. Oil companies found demand from European countries eager to replace Russian petroleum, which caused U.S. crude stockpiles to drop substantially.

However, Baker Hughes Co. reports that the number of U.S. oil rigs, a leading indicator of future supply, remained unchanged this week at 601, as energy companies gradually raise production to pre-pandemic levels, with shale oil output in September anticipated to reach its highest level since March 2020.