U.S. oil futures post a sixth consecutive weekly decline

U.S. oil futures gave up early Friday gains to settle with a loss, suffering a sixth weekly decline in a row. While the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies on Thursday to "formally keep their meeting 'in session' means that they are watching developments closely and could reconvene at any time to begin to renegotiate the deal, this just speaks to the current uncertainty in the market when it comes to the ultimate impact the omicron variant will have on demand," said Troy Vincent, senior market analyst at DTN. "It's simply too early to tell." January West Texas Intermediate crude fell 24 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $66.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as high as $69.22. For the week, prices based on the front-month contract, lost 2.8%, according to FactSet data.