By Gina Lee

Investing.com – Oil was down on Friday morning in Asia and was for the week. The U.S. is considering increasing interest rates to combat rising global demand. COVID-19 lockdowns are in China and the European Union may ban Russian oil.

At 12:01 ET (4AM GMT), the price had fallen 0.95%, to $107.30 and dropped 1% at $102.75. WTI and Brent benchmark contracts foresee weekly drops of 3.7%.

This week has seen the lowest volatility in trade since February 24, when the Russian invasion took place. The sanctions that were imposed on Russia cut oil supplies and saw the consuming countries release record amounts of oil from emergency stocks, this week was still volatile.

Following concerns over the possibility that Ukraine’s war is driving high inflation and depressing economic growth, trading was dominated in the second week. Also, almost a complete percentage point was cut by the International Monetary Fund’s global growth forecast earlier this week.

People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said earlier in the day that China was not immune to external shocks and faced pressure from its latest COVID-19 outbreaks as well.

Jerome Powell (US Federal Reserve Chairman) signaled an aggressive increase in interest rates on Thursday. He drove the dollar higher, increasing the price of oil for those who have other currencies. It also made the currency more costly for consumers and causing negative sentiment about the dark liquid.

This is not to mention the fact that the market remains tight and could get even smaller if Russia’s oil export ban is implemented by the European Union.

In a note, ANZ Research analysts stated that the “worsening situation in Ukraine” is increasing EU pressure to sanction Russian oil.