WASHINGTON: Oil rose for a third day on Thursday to reach its highest so far this year as financial markets drew support from investor optimism that the United States and China could resolve their trade dispute.
The price of crude has risen 20 percent this year, driven primarily by the prospect of a decline in oil supply from OPEC and other top exporters such as Russia.
“This rally that we’re seeing over the last two to three days is completely justified when you put the predicted OPEC production cuts into your global oil supply and demand equation,” Tamas Varga of PVM Oil Associates said.
Brent crude futures were up 95 cents at $64.56 a barrel by 1007 GMT, down from a session high of $64.81, while U.S. crude futures rose 56 cents to $54.46 a barrel.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies such as Russia and Oman have agreed to cut crude output by a joint 1.2 million barrels per day, 800,000 bpd of which will come from OPEC.
Adding to the positive backdrop was data showing a surprise increase in China’s exports in January, as well as a sharp rise in imports of crude oil ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays in early February.
