Crude oil prices ended slightly higher due largely to a smaller-than-expected build in U.S. crude inventories last week as reported by the EIA
China's Hubei province on Friday reported an increase in new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus that reversed 3 previous days of declines, with officials emphasizing the overall downward trend of new infections. The province at the epicentre of COVID-19 outbreak said that it had counted 411 new cases as of February 20, which was up from 349 a day earlier.
Outside of China, South Korea reported its first death due to COVID-19 and its confirmed cases nearly doubling to 104, with 2.5 mil people in its 4th-largest city Daegu put on lock-down. Iranian health officials urged all religious gatherings to be suspended in its holy city of Qom, where 2 more people tested positive after another 2 died of it earlier in the week. Iraq and Kuwait imposed travel bans on people coming from Iran.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday there is an understanding amongst OPEC+ producers that it would no longer make sense to meet before their next scheduled gathering in early March. The grouping of OPEC and major non-OPEC producers led by Russia is scheduled to meet again on March 6 to decide on their next steps regarding output curbs.