oil futures edged higher friday in the last trading session of 2022  on track to deliver an annual rise in a year that saw investors weigh supply fears triggered by russia’s invasion of ukraine against a wobbly global demand outlook   west texas intermediate crude for february delivery cl1 cl00 clg23 was up 3 cents or less than 01 at 7843 a barrel on the new york mercantile exchange   march brent crude brn00 brnh23 the global benchmark was flat at 8346 a barrel on ice futures europe   back on nymex january gasoline rbf23 rose 03 to 2378 a gallon while january heating oil hof23 shed 07 to 329 a gallon   february natural gas ngg23 was down less than 01 at 4557 per million british thermal units based on trading in frontmonth contracts through thursday’s close wti was up 42 in 2022 while brent was up 58 that would mark a second annual rise for both grades though both were set to finish well off highs set in march following russia’s late february invasion of ukraine wti hit a nearly 14year high above 130 a barrel in early march while brent traded just shy of 140 wti was set to end the year well below where it stood on feb 23 the eve of russia’s invasion of ukraine at 9210 a barrel brent is down from its preinvasion close at 9405 a barrel crude has weakened over the second half of the year in part due to fears that aggressive tightening of monetary policy by the federal reserve and other major central banks would tip the global economy into steep slowdown optimism over china’s relaxation of strict covid curbs a factor seen as a weight on crude demand has been offset by concerns over a surge in infections in the country oil soared “in the wake of russia’s first attacks on ukraine we had all kind of speculation that it would rally to the 180200pb per barrel area but thank god that didn’t happen we are preparing to end the year below 80pb instead as the recession fears took a toll on bullish bets” said ipek ozkardeskaya analyst at swissquote bank in a note