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SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose Monday, pushing Brent back above $ 50 a barrel, fueled by hopes that a coronavirus vaccine launch will boost global demand for fuel, while an explosion of oil tankers in Saudi Arabia shook the market nerves.
February Brent crude futures rose 38 cents, or 0.8%, to $ 50.35 a barrel at 0454 GMT, while US West Intermediate crude for January futures were up 32 cents, or 0.7%, at $ 46.89 a barrel.
Prices also spiked earnings amid supply nerves after a shipping company said its tanker exploded after being hit by an outside source while unloading at the Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia.
Brent and WTI have rallied for six straight weeks, their longest stretch of earnings since June.
The United States began its vaccination campaign against COVID-19, raising hopes that the pandemic restrictions will end soon and increase demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
An extension of Brexit talks between European powers also boosted financial markets on Monday.
CMC Markets Chief Market Strategist Michael McCarthy asked: “Having ‘bought the buzz’ of an effective vaccine, now that the delivery is here, will investors ‘sell the fact’?” Major European countries continued in lockdown mode to slow the spread of COVID-19, which has reduced demand for fuel. For example, Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, plans to impose a tighter lockdown starting Wednesday to fight the virus.
Investors expect two meetings between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, including Russia, a group known as OPEC +.
The joint OPEC + ministerial monitoring committee (JMMC) that monitors compliance among members will meet on December 16, while OPEC + will meet on January 4 to study the market after its latest decision to limit production. increase to 500,000 barrels per day from next year.
In the United States, energy companies added the most oil and natural gas rigs in a week since January last week, as producers continued to return to the well pad.
Two separate fires broke out on Sunday at Nigeria’s Qua Iboe crude oil export terminal and on a pipeline in Iran, but most of the incidents have been contained. – Reuters
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