Oil futures fell on Friday, suffering a third-straight weekly decline as traders continued to weigh the likelihood of a U.S. release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or a ban on oil exports to combat high oil and gasoline prices. During a White House press conference Friday, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that all options remain on the table, but no decisions have been made. “What this tells us is that behind the scenes in the White House, they’re not quite sure what to do,” said Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The Price Futures Group. Some say that a ban on U.S. oil exports would only reduce U.S. production and put domestic oil workers out of work, with little impact on gasoline prices, while an SPR release may only have a short-term impact, he said. December West Texas Intermediate oil fell 80 cents, or 1%, to settle at $80.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices based on the front-month contract ended the week with a 0.6% loss, FactSet data show.
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