Oil in longest rally in two years as vaccines boost demand hopes
Oil prices rose on Wednesday, extending its rally for a ninth day, its longest winning streak in two years, supported by producer supply cuts and hopes vaccine rollouts will drive a recovery in demand.
Brent crude settled up 38 cents, or 0.6%, at $61.47 a barrel, after touching a 13-month high of $61.61. U.S. crude closed 32 cents, or 0.6%, higher at $58.68 a barrel, also after touching a 13-month high at $58.76.
Falling U.S. crude inventories were also supportive. Crude stocks last week fell for a third straight week, dropping 6.6 million barrels to 469 million barrels, their lowest since March, according to the Energy Information Administration. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast a 985,000-barrel increase.
Brent has now risen for nine sessions in a row, its longest sustained period of gains since December 2018 to January 2019. It is the eighth daily rise for U.S. crude. Some analysts say prices have moved too far ahead of the underlying fundamentals.
Crude has jumped since November as governments kicked off vaccination drives for COVID-19 while putting in place large stimulus packages to boost economic activity, and the world’s top producers kept a lid on supply.
Reference: Reuters
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