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Brent was up 24 cents, or 0.4%, to $69.70 a barrel by 1125 GMT,
while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 35 cents, or 0.5%,
to $67.20 a barrel.
"Boosted by good economic data and risk appetite among investors
on the financial markets, Brent is making a renewed bid for the
psychologically important $70 per barrel mark," said Commerzbank
analyst Eugen Weinberg.
"Concerns about demand because of the pandemic are giving way to
optimism in view of the rapid return of consumers," he added.
Brent and WTI are both on track to post weekly gains of 5% and
6%, respectively.
Analysts expect global oil demand to rebound closer to 100
million barrels per day in the third quarter on summer travel in
Europe and the United States following widespread COVID-19
vaccination programmes.
"Gasoline demand has now exceeded 2019 levels in many areas,"
ANZ analysts said in a note.
More than 34 million Americans are expected to take to the
highways between May 27 and May 31, the holiday weekend which
marks the start of the summer driving season. But they face
gasoline prices at about $3.04 a gallon on average, the most
expensive since 2014.
Robust economic data from the United States, the world's largest
economy and oil consumer, also lent support as the number of
Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell to
the lowest since mid-March 2020, beating estimates.
Rising coronavirus infections in Asia put pressure on prices.
Infections in the South Asia region surpassed 30 million on
Friday, according to a Reuters tally, led by India which is
struggling with a second COVID-19 wave and a vaccine shortage
across the region.
The prospect of more Iranian oil coming on to the markets also
capped the gains.
Iran and global powers have negotiated in Vienna since April to
work out steps that Tehran and Washington must take on sanctions
and nuclear activities to return to full compliance with Iran's
2015 nuclear pact with world powers.
Balancing expectations of a recovery in demand against a
possible increase in Iranian supply, the Organization of the
Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, including Russia, a
group known as OPEC+, is likely to stick to the existing pace of
gradually easing oil supply curbs at a meeting on Tuesday, OPEC
sources said.
"Our balance sheet shows that the market should be able to
absorb this additional supply from OPEC+, along with a gradual
increase in Iranian output," said ING analyst Warren Patterson.
(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in London, additional
reporting by Florence Tan in Singapore; editing by Jane Merriman
and Louise Heavens)
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