Kuwait crude price loses 85 cents to stand at $98 pb

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) said on Saturday that the price of Kuwait's crude oil slipped by 85 cents in Friday's trading to settle at USD 98 per barrel (pb) compared with USD 98.85 pb a day earlier. The prices of crude oil in the international market declined in Europe and the US on Friday as Brent crude closed with a slip of USD 1.80 pb to settle at USD 100.39, ending the month with a loss of 1.93 percent. US light crude futures finished July's delivery traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) with a slip of USD 1.64 pb to settle at USD 91.97 pb, ending the month with a loss of 1.6 percent. This decline in crude prices on Friday was a result of reactivating a major Canadian oil pipeline, which refers to the inflation of supply in a market experiencing tepid demand amid weak economic prospects. Oil prices were also negatively affected by data showing a decline in consumer spending in the US in April for the first time in a year as figures in the Eurozone indicated that unemployment in the region, which includes 17 countries, recorded a high level last month. Among the factors that affected oil prices as well were the recent signs of abundance of oil supply brought by US government data, which showed an increase in the US crude reserves. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) had expectedly kept its official output ceiling unchanged at 30 million barrels per day on Friday.