Oil prices increase despite uncertainties on the amount of a U.S. interest rate hike

Concerns over the Federal Reserve's aggressiveness in raising interest rates to combat excessive inflation led to a spike in oil prices in early Asian trading on Friday.

At 00:07 GMT, Brent crude futures for September delivery jumped 80 cents, or 0.8%, to $99.90 per barrel, while WTI crude futures rose 69 cents, or 0.7%, to $96.47 per barrel.

The most hawkish Fed officials suggested on Thursday that they prefer another 75-basis-point interest rate rise at the U.S. central bank's policy meeting this month, as opposed to the greater rate hike that traders had priced in following Wednesday's inflation report.

The Fed rate rise is expected to follow the 100-basis-point increase by the Bank of Canada on Wednesday, which shocked the market.

A day before Russia attacked Ukraine in what Moscow termed a "special military operation," both benchmark futures fell below the closing price of February 23 on Thursday, as a result of rate hike uncertainty and terrible economic figures. By the conclusion of the trading day, Brent and WTI had recovered nearly all of their losses.

Joe Biden will go to Saudi Arabia on Friday to attend a summit of Gulf allies and encourage them to raise oil output.

The bulk of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries producers are producing at maximum capacity, and it is uncertain how much extra oil Saudi Arabia can send to the market quickly.