Oil prices rise on vaccine hopes, tanker blast at Saudi Arabia | Reuters
Oil prices rose on Monday, pushing Brent back above $50 a barrel, buoyed by hopes that a rollout of coronavirus vaccines will lift global fuel demand while a tanker explosion in Saudi Arabia jangled nerves in the market.
Brent crude futures for February rose 67 cents, or 1.3%, to $50.64 a barrel by 0730 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for January were up 62 cents, or 1.3%, at $47.19 a barrel.
Prices also extended gains amid supply jitters after a shipping firm said an oil tanker was hit by an external source while discharging at Jeddah port in Saudi Arabia.
“The market is assessing supply disruption from these incidents versus Iranian (supply) volumes coming back,” Energy Aspects’ analyst Virendra Chauhan said, adding that the rampant spread of the virus in the west has hurt demand. “So it’s unsurprising that prices are choppy.”
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