Oil tanks and refinery in the US state of New Jersey (Reuters)

Oil prices are heading for a seventh straight week in the longest weekly streak in five years on concerns about oversupply and weak demand from China, the world's second-largest economy, despite rising prices after Saudi Arabia and Russia pressured OPEC Plus members to join production cuts.

Brent crude futures for the nearest delivery rose $1.62, or 2.19%, to $75.69, at the time of writing, and US West Texas Intermediate crude rose $1.64, or 2.37%, to $70.97.

But Brent has fallen 3.93% since last Monday, the first session of the week, at the time of writing the report, and US crude lost 4.46% of its value.

Both benchmarks fell to their lowest levels since late June in the previous session, a sign that many traders believe the market is oversupplied, but prices are expected to rise later.

Reuters quoted Tamas Varga, of oil brokerage BVM, writing in a note that OPEC Plus' "weak" position in providing support to crude prices along with record high US production, and the slowdown in China's oil imports can only mean one thing, which is that there is an abundance of oil available, which is reflected in the decline in prices.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, the world's largest oil exporters, yesterday called on all OPEC plus members to join voluntary production cuts in favor of the global economy, just days after a meeting that did not result in a mandatory cut for the alliance of crude producers.

But several countries in the alliance, which consists of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, led by Russia, successively announced a voluntary cut of 2.2 million barrels per day in the first quarter of next year.

Doubts

Kepler's chief crude oil analyst, Victor Katuna, says that despite OPEC Plus members' pledges to cut production, some alliance members may not comply because of unclear quota baselines and dependence on oil and gas revenues.

China's customs data, which fueled a market downturn, showed its crude imports in November fell 9 percent year-on-year as rising inventory levels, weak economic indicators and slowing demand from independent refineries weakened demand.

Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed on Monday that production in the United States remained near record highs of more than 13 million barrels per day.

Source: Agencies