By Libby George
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil futures clawed back some losses on Friday after setting multi-month lows in the previous session, but remained on track to close the week more than 4 percent lower.
Both Brent and U.S. crude futures faced a sixth consecutive week of losses, the longest run since the turn of the year.
While investors awaited U.S. jobs data later on Friday and Chinese trade figures over the weekend, analysts said there was little chance for significant price movement in either direction.
"The flat price already made a big move," said Olivier Jakob, managing director of PetroMatrix. "Brent has been consolidating."
Brent crude futures
The global oil benchmark was on track to close the week 4.7 percent lower, the biggest weekly fall since March.
U.S. crude
"We?re back down to the levels where we had a strong negative impact on drilling activity in the U.S.," Jakob said. "There's going to be a continued reduction of supply."
In the near term, U.S. jobs data on Friday could give a strong pointer on when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates for the first time in nearly 10 years. Markets are split between a hike next month or a delay until December.
Global oversupply joined with worrying data about the state of China's slowing economic growth, which has major implications for oil demand in the world's top energy consumer.
Market observers said seasonal refinery maintenance over the coming months also cast a worrying shadow on crude prices.
"There is indeed a growing risk that seasonally weaker crude demand over the fall maintenance period could lead to surprisingly strong stockbuilds, with even lower outright prices required to bring about a supply side adjustment," analysts JBC said in a note.
(Additional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo; Editing by William Hardy)
