Oil up but set for weekly loss on stock build, trade row

Oil prices rose on Friday on signs of surging demand in China, the world’s second-biggest oil consumer, although the market was heading for a second week of losses on rising U.S. inventories and concern that trade wars were curbing economic activity.

Benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 70 cents a barrel at $79.99 by 1100 GMT. U.S. light crude CLc1 was 40 cents higher at $69.05.

For the week, Brent crude was 0.5 percent lower while U.S. crude was down 3.2 percent, both on track for a second consecutive weekly decline, and down around $7 a barrel from four-year highs reached in early October.

“It looks like the oil market moved too fast too far,” said Carsten Menke, analyst at Swiss bank Julius Baer. “Prices are down around 8 percent from recent highs, trading back below $80 a barrel. Sentiment in the futures market seems to have cooled.”

Refinery throughput in China, the world’s largest oil importer, rose to a record high of 12.49 million barrels per day (bpd) in September as some independent plants restarted operations after prolonged shutdowns over the summer to shore up inventories, government data showed on Friday.