oil futures ticked lower friday as investors awaited a pair of events a sunday meeting of the organization of the petroleum exporting countries and its allies and the monday kickoff of european union ban on russian crude imports   west texas intermediate crude for january delivery cl00 cl1 clf23 was flat at 8122 a barrel on the new york mercantile exchange   february brent crude brn00 brng23 the global benchmark was up 1 cent at 8689 a barrel on ice futures europe   back on nymex january gasoline rbf23 fell 02 to 2338 a gallon while january heating oil hof23 was up 09 at 3293 a gallon   january natural gas ngf23 was down 13 at 6648 per million british thermal units oil is on track for a weekly gain buoyed in part by signs china is beginning to ease strict covid curbs meanwhile opec meets sunday many analysts look for the group to hold production steady amid uncertainty over how a eu ban on vesselborne russian crude that begins monday will affect the market “in view of the many uncertainties on the market however it is unlikely to implement any further measures this sunday after all the eu’s oil embargo on seaborne crude oil from russia will come into force on monday” said barbara lambrecht commodity analyst at commerzbank in a note it’s also unclear what effect a separate price cap on russian oil will have european union officials have proposed a cap of 60 a barrel according to the wall street journal