By Yange Ikyaa
After oil prices started relatively steady early on Friday morning, rumors began to circulate that the UAE was considering leaving OPEC and oil prices dropped dramatically.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE had debated leaving OPEC and boosting production, which sent oil prices falling.
Brent crude futures fell $2.23, or 2.7%, to $79.94 a barrel, after rising to a session high of $84.20. It then hit a session low of $79.72, its lowest since January 11.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Western Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) ended down $2.49, or 3.3%, at $73.39, after trading between $78.00 and $73.13, its lowest since January 5.
This is even as inflation fears and rising inventories battled with optimism regarding China’s rebounding economy, which has been the main bullish factor for oil prices this week, after the country’s PMI index surged to 52.6 in February.
This highest reading since April 2012 served as a sign of industrial activity coming back to life. The China bulls had buoyed oil markets to such an extent that their sentiment overshadowed growing inflation fears in the European Union and rising U.S. inventories.