NEW YORK, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices settled mixed on Friday as investors awaited a key meeting from major producers.
The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery lost 53 cents to settle at 66.32 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for July delivery increased 17 cents to close at 69.63 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, widely known as OPEC+, will meet on Tuesday. The group is expected to assess the oil-market conditions and discuss output quotas.
For the week, the U.S. crude benchmark rose 4.3 percent, while Brent climbed 4.8 percent, based on the front-month contracts.
"Concerns about demand because of the pandemic are giving way to optimism in view of the rapid return of consumers," Eugen Weinberg, energy analyst at Commerzbank Research, said in a note on Friday, adding oil prices also found some support from the supply side.
"OPEC+ appears to have the supply side firmly under control, and Iranian oil exports are not set to return anytime soon," he said. Enditem