Brent crude futures gained $1.16, or 1.4%, to $83.33 a barrel as of 1456 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.30, or 1.7%, to $77.18. Both contracts lost around 1% in the previous session.
Brent is on course for a 3.6% decline this week while WTI is on track for a 2.3% decline.
US job growth picked up sharply in January in a still-resilient labor market, but further moderation in wage gains should reassure the Federal Reserve in its fight against inflation.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday cut a more moderate rate hike than last year, but policymakers also forecast that “continued increases” in borrowing costs would be needed.
Interest rate hikes in 2023 are expected to weigh on the U.S. and European economies, heightening fears of an economic slowdown that is likely to hurt global demand for crude oil, said Priyanka Sachdeva, market analyst at Phillip Nova. .
Investors are watching developments in the European Union’s Feb. 5 ban on Russian refined products, with EU countries seeking an agreement on Friday to set price caps for Russian petroleum products. The Kremlin said on Friday that the EU embargo on refined petroleum products from Russia would lead to further imbalance in global energy markets.
“The exact details of what the cap will be and how they will implement it are still unclear,” Capital Economics commodity economist Bill Weatherburn said, adding that uncertainty is keeping a cap going. on prices.
“There has been no data from China to indicate the extent of the recovery in Chinese demand for rough.”
ANZ analysts noted a surge in traffic in China’s 15 biggest cities after the Lunar New Year holiday, but said Chinese traders had been “relatively absent”.
