Oil hits two-year highs on rising demand expectations | Reuters

Oil hits two-year highs on rising demand expectations | Reuters

Oil prices edged up to their highest in over two years in volatile trade on Thursday, on optimism for strong economic demand after new U.S. unemployment claims fell to their lowest since the country’s first wave of COVID-19 last year.

The market shook off a brief plunge after media reports suggested the United States lifted sanctions on Iranian oil officials.

The U.S. Treasury later said it had removed sanctions on three former Iranian officials and on two companies previously involved in trading Iranian petrochemical products. A U.S. official told Reuters that the activity was “routine” and not related to talks with Iran over reviving the 2015 deal to restrict its nuclear weapons development.

Brent futures rose 30 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $72.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 33 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $70.29.

Those were the highest closes for Brent since May 2019 and WTI since October 2018.