Enbridge Inc. Chief Executive Officer Greg Ebel said that despite recent volatility in energy markets, oil and natural gas prices are at a level beneficial for both users and producers.

Prices are “in a bit of a sweet spot here that allows for consumers to benefit, but still for our producing customers to actually make a good buck off the price of those products,” Ebel said in a Friday interview with Bloomberg Television. 

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate was up 4.1 per cent to US$71.35 a barrel at 2:31 p.m. in New York after plunging 11 per cent this week through Thursday. The commodity has traded in a range of $70 to $80 for most of this year.

It’s difficult to determine the path ahead for oil demand, with signs of softening economic activity and slowing inflation clouded by strong jobs data, Ebel said. On the supply side, sanctions meant to constrict oil flows out of Russia are creating further volatility in the market, he said.

Enbridge posted first-quarter adjusted earnings of 85 Canadian cents a share on Friday, edging out the 84-cent average estimate of analysts. Shares of the Calgary-based company, North America’s largest pipeline operator, were up 0.6 per cent to C$53.50 in Toronto.