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(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments
to settlement)
By Jessica Resnick-Ault
NEW YORK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices settled
slightly lower after trading in a tight range on Friday, as
investors worried about the lingering global pandemic and slow
vaccine rollouts.
The most active global Brent crude contract also
ended lower on concerns about vaccine distribution and the
efficacy of one vaccine.
"The vaccine numbers are just not there," said Bob Yawger,
director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York.
Oil markets have rallied about 50% since October on the back
of vaccine rollouts, but the emergence of COVID-19 variants has
fanned worries about economic weakness. Yawger said a U.S.
economic stimulus package may not come quickly enough to support
the market.
U.S. President Joe Biden urged Congress to take swift action
on a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal.
"There is no time for any delays," Biden said. "It could
take a year longer to return to full employment if we don't act
and don't act now."
Global benchmark Brent crude futures for March
settled up 36 cents, or 0.6% a barrel, at $55.88. The Brent
March contract expires on Friday. The more active April contract
settled down 6 cents a barrel, at $55.04.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell
14 cents, or 0.3%, to $52.20.
Both front-month Brent and WTI were on track to post a
weekly gain of less than 1%.
A Reuters poll showed oil prices are expected to hover
around current levels for much of 2021 before a recovery gains
traction towards year-end.
U.S. crude fell along with stock indexes, as investors
gauged the efficacy data of Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19
vaccine. The drugmaker's shares fell after it said its
single-dose vaccine was 72% effective in preventing COVID-19 in
the United States, with a lower rate of 66% observed globally.
Saudi Arabia is set to cut output by 1 million barrels per
day (bpd) in February and March. Compliance with output curbs by
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and
allies, together known as OPEC+, improved in January.
OPEC oil output rose in January, a Reuters survey found,
after OPEC+ agreed to an easing of supply curbs.
However, the rise was less than the agreed amount, with an
involuntary drop in Nigerian exports limiting the increase.
(Reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York
Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, Roslan
Khasawneh in Singapore and Sonali Paul in Melbourne
Editing by David Goodman, Louise Heavens, David Gregorio and
Richard Chang)
