|
Brent crude futures gained $2.50, or 3%, to $85.69 a barrel at
1119 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose
$1.98, or 2.6%, to $79.22.
Chinese health officials on Tuesday said the country plans to
speed up COVID-19 vaccinations for elderly people, aiming to
overcome a key stumbling block in efforts to ease unpopular
"zero-COVID" curbs
"The prospect of a return to normality, in an economy that is
the world's largest oil importer, was enough to make oil prices
jump in the first significant price rebound of the last two
weeks," said ActivTrades analyst Ricardo Evangelista.
Rare street protests in cities across China over the weekend
were a vote against President Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy and
the strongest public defiance of his political career, China
analysts said.
Oil prices were also supported by the possibility that major
producers could adjust their output plans, with analysts at
Eurasia Group suggesting on Monday that weakened demand out of
China could prompt a production cut.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and
allies including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, hold their next
meeting on Dec. 4.
OPEC+ started to lower its output target by 2 million barrels
per day (bpd) in November, aiming to shore up oil prices.
Markets are also assessing the impact of a looming Western price
cap on Russian oil.
Diplomats from the Group of Seven (G7) nations and the European
Union have been discussing a cap between $65 and $70 a barrel,
aiming to limit revenue to fund Moscow's military offensive in
Ukraine without disrupting global oil markets.
However, EU governments on Monday failed to agree on the cap,
with Poland insisting it should be set lower than the level
proposed by the G7, diplomats said.
The price cap is due to come into effect on Dec. 5, when an EU
ban on Russian crude also takes effect.
(Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Yuka Obayashi
in Tokyo and Muyu Xu in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
