Sentiment was also bolstered by expectations that the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia
and other producers, a group known as OPEC+, might extend a deal
to restrain output.
Brent crude rose 94 cents to $45.90 a barrel by 0913 GMT while
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 76 cents to $43.18 a
barrel. Both benchmarks jumped 5% last week.
The contango structure in the market, where the prices of
front-month delivery contracts are lower than those for delivery
six months later, narrowed to 32 U.S. cents, its smallest since
mid June, indicating that concerns about a glut were receding.
Outlook for demand has improved with news indicating progress
towards developing COVID-19 vaccines. A U.S. official said first
inoculations in the United States could start a day or two after
regulatory approval was secured.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine,
developed along with the University of Oxford, could be around
90% effective under one dosing regimen.
PVM analyst Stephen Brennock said the news was detaching
sentiment from "gloomy fundamentals."
"Investors are ignoring near-term headwinds, chief among which
are surging global COVID infections, and instead looking ahead
to next summer," he said.
On the supply side, OPEC+, which meets on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. It
will look at options to extend their deal on output cuts by at
least three months from January.
Smaller Russian oil companies are still planning to pump more
crude this year, a group representing the producers said.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group on Monday said it fired a
missile that struck a Saudi Aramco site in the western city of
Jeddah. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the claim.
Aramco's main oil facilities in are in the east.
(Additional reporting by Jessica Jaganathan in Singapore;
Editing by Edmund Blair)
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