Oil rises more than 2%, and hit 6-week high

Oil prices continued to rise as the US market opened on Thursday, and jumped more than 2% to head for the third straight daily gain, and hit a 6-week high on upbeat expectations of global oil demand which offset concerns over the Indian Covid-19 crisis, in addition to unexpected build in the US crude inventories.

US crude rose 2.4% to its highest level since March 17 at $65.18 a barrel, after opening at $63.68, and hit a high at $63.67, and Brent crude rose 2.3% to the highest since March 17 at $68.69 a barrel, after opening at $67.12, and hit a high of $67.12.

US crude gained 0.9% yesterday, and Brent crude futures rose 0.6% and posted the second consecutive daily gain, as most dollar-denominated commodities rose following the end of the Federal Reserve meeting.

Citibank analysts projected that vaccination campaigns in North America and Europe will increase global demand for oil to a record high of 101.5 million barrels per day this summer.

The coronavirus crisis in India is still escalating despite local and global efforts to contain it before spreading more widely in neighboring countries, and the authorities have tightened lockdown measures in most parts of the country, which weighs down on fuel consumption in the world's third largest oil importer.

The Energy Information Administration reported yesterday that the US crude inventories rose 100K barrels during the week ending April 23, while analysts forecasts a drop by 0.9 million barrels.

The US production fell 100K barrels last week, with a total of 10.9 million barrels per day.