Brent prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Monday, to jump by more than 5%, extending gains for the fourth straight day and hitting its highest in a month and a half, on global demand hopes after many countries started to ease their coronavirus-lockdown restrictions.
Brent climbed 5.4% to the highest since April 9 at $34.66, after opening at $32.86, with a low of $32.86.
Brent crude futures rose 4.6% on Friday, posting the fourth daily gain, after upbeat Chinese factory production data for April.
Brent crude has added 7% during the past week, their third straight weekly gain on hopes of global demand recovery.
Several countries around the world started to ease their general lockdown measures that were imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak, allowing some companies to resume work on construction and opened gardens and libraries.
The return to normal life after a prolonged period of lockdown, in addition to gradually restarting economic activities, will indeed improve the global demand for oil.
The global oil demand is currently 30 million bpd or 30% lower, according to most international energy agencies, due to the "Great Lockdown" of the global economy.
OPEC's Secretary General said during his interview with Bloomberg TV, that expectations for the second half of this year seem encouraging as the global economy recover.
The US production fell by about 1.5 million barrels per day over the last two months, leaving its all-time high of 13.1 million barrels last March, to fall to 11.6 million barrels, indicating a suspension in the US production activity due to the falling prices.