Crude oil futures ended the day lower, posting their fourth consecutive weekly gain, helped by a much bigger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories, renewed hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will soon begin cutting interest rates, and heightened geopolitical risks Near East.

The weekly report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed an overall decline in crude oil and refined product inventories, with an upward decline of 12.2 million barrels in inventories, a decline of 2.2 million barrels in gasoline inventories and a decline of 1.5 million barrels in distillate inventories.

Various data releases this week have raised hopes that the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell made relatively dovish comments at a European Central Bank conference, acknowledging that inflation finally appears to be heading in the right direction.

On the supply side, Hurricane Beryl has hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and is expected to make a second landfall between Mexico and Texas next week after passing through the Gulf of Mexico. Several oil companies have evacuated some workers from drilling rigs, but they do not expect a significant impact on production.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah have also risen this week. The Iranian-backed militia fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli targets in retaliation for the killing of a senior commander this week. But efforts to secure a ceasefire and free hostages in Gaza gained momentum on Friday.

The week ended with the Nymex (CL1:COM) crude oil futures contract for August delivery +2% to $83.16/bbl, including a 0.8% decline on Friday, while September Brent crude (CO1:COM) closed the week +1.8% to $86.54/bbl, including Friday’s 1% decline.

While the price of crude oil has risen for four consecutive weeks, the price of natural gas in the US has fallen over the same period, with the August Nymex gas price stabilizing -10.8% to $2.319/MMBtu, including a 4.1% decline on Friday to the lowest settlement value since May 10.

ETFs: (NYSEARCA: USE), (BNO), (UCO), (SCO), (USL), (DBO), (DRIP), (GUSH), (NRGU), (USOI), (UNG), (BOIL), (KOLD), (UNL), (FCG)

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has cut prices across all grades of crude sold to Asia, cutting the official selling price for August deliveries of its flagship Arab Light crude by $0.60-$1.80/bbl compared with the average price for Oman and Dubai. The move underscores the pressure OPEC producers face from robust growth in non-OPEC supply.

However, the price reduction for Arab Light was less significant than expectedAccording to DNB Markets, investors and refiners expect a cut of $0.90/bbl.

The energy sector, represented by the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund ETF (XLE), was the worst performer in the shortened week, ending -1.1%.

Top 10 Energy and Natural Resources Winners in the Last 5 Days: Nuclear Nanoenergy (NNE) +75.1%Skeena Resources (SKE) +29%Century Aluminum (CENX) +26.7%Ramaco Resources (METC) +18.3%Idaho Strategic Resources (IDR) +17%Metal Acquisition (MTAL) +16%Warrior Met Coal (METC) +15.7%English Old Ashanti (AU) +15.4%American Gold (USAU) +14.4%Sibanye – Still Water (SBSW) +14.2%.

Top 5 Energy & Natural Resources Declining Stocks Over the Past 5 Days: TPI Composites (TPIC) -18.2%Critical Metals (CRML) -15.8%Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) -14.5%Green Plains (GPRE) -13.3%Fluence Energy (FLNC) -13.3%.

Source: Barchart.com