Oil prices are heading for a weekly decline of 5% amid fears of a US interest rate hike

Oil fell for the fourth session on Friday, heading to record its largest weekly loss in five weeks, due to fears of further US interest rate hikes, which would hurt fuel demand.

By 0852 GMT, Brent crude futures were down 41 cents, or 0.5 percent, at $81.18 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate crude futures also fell 56 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $75.16 a barrel.

Expectations of higher interest rates in the world’s largest economy and in Europe have clouded the outlook for global growth, sending both benchmarks down more than 5 percent so far this week, their worst declines since early February.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned of a higher and possibly faster interest rate hike, saying that the US central bank initially erred when it thought inflation was “temporary”.

On the supply side, the US has reportedly privately urged some commodity traders to set aside concerns about shipping Russian oil, which has been capped, in an effort to prop up supplies, suggesting more Russian oil may be flowing into the market.

Investors are closely watching the decline in exports from Russia, which decided to cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day in March.