Oil prices rise, bullish demand outlook offsets India concerns | Reuters

Oil prices rise, bullish demand outlook offsets India concerns | Reuters

Oil prices extended gains on Thursday after rising 1% the previous session, as bullish forecasts of recovering demand outweighed concerns about the impact of rising COVID-19 cases in Brazil, India and Japan.

Brent rose 49 cents, or 0.7%, to $67.76 a barrel by 0843 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 43 cents, or 0.7%, at $64.29 a barrel.

This is the third consecutive day that the both contracts are rising.

"The performance of the past few days demonstrates the unbroken faith of the market in healthy economic and demand recovery," Tamas Varga, analyst at PVM Oil associates said.

"It also implies that the perilous and devastating COVID nightmare engulfing in India, Japan and Turkey, amongst others, is not expected to have a long-lasting impact on economic expansion."