By Enes Tunagur
LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices rose on Friday, on course for a fourth consecutive week of gains, as the latest U.S. sanctions on Russian energy trade heightened expectations for oil supply disruptions.
Brent crude futures were trading up 36 cents or 0.4% higher at $81.65 per barrel by 1113 GMT, having gained 2.4% so far this week.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were up 53 cents or 0.7% at $79.21 a barrel, having climbed 3.5% for the week.
Last Friday, the Biden administration unveiled broader sanctions targeting Russian oil producers and tankers.
"Supply concerns from U.S. sanctions on Russian oil producers and tankers, combined with expectations of a demand recovery driven by potential U.S. interest rate cuts, are bolstering the crude market," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.
Investors are also assessing potential implications of Donald Trump's return to the White House next Monday. Trump's pick for Treasury secretary said he was ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russian oil.
"While comments from Rubio and Bessent point in a direction of potential further sanctions impacting oil producers, market participants prefer to wait on what the next U.S. president will decide," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said.
Expectations for better demand lent some support to the oil market. Data showed inflation easing in the United States, the world's biggest economy, bolstering hopes of interest rate cuts.
Traders are also assessing fresh data from China, the world's top oil importer. Its economy fulfilled the government's ambitions for 5% growth last year.
Weighing on oil prices were expectations of a halt in attacks by Yemen's Houthi militia on ships in the Red Sea (NYSE:SE) in the wake of a Gaza ceasefire deal.
The Houthis' attacks have disrupted global shipping, forcing ships to make longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa for more than a year.
The Israeli cabinet is set to approve a deal with militant group Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Friday.