Oil prices settle up 2%, post weekly loss on stockpile releases

Oil prices rose 2% on Friday but notched their second straight weekly decline after countries announced plans to release crude from their strategic stocks, Trend reports citing Reuters. Brent crude futures settled up $2.20, or 2.19%, at $102.78 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $2.23 to $98.26. For the week, Brent dropped 1.5% while WTI slid 1%. For several weeks, the benchmarks have been at their most volatile since June 2020.