LONDON—Oil prices edged higher on Friday on hopes of a Chinese demand boost, but the broader global economic outlook kept crude benchmarks on course for a weekly decline.
Brent crude futures rose 56 cents, or 0.71 percent, to $79.25 a barrel by 1009 GMT.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 60 cents, or 0.81 percent, at $74.27.
Both contracts rose by more than $1 earlier in the session.
China, the world’s largest crude oil importer, expects passenger traffic by road, rail, water, and air during the coming Lunar New Year holidays to double from the same period in 2022.
Further support came from a higher than expected fall in U.S. distillate inventories in the week to Dec. 30, according to data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) on Thursday….