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Brent crude futures rose 78 cents, or 0.9%, to $86.90 a barrel
by 1046 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures
were up 75 cents, or 0.9%, at $80.90.
"China's reopening is supporting demand prospects," said UBS
analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
"Also, market participants are closely tracking the upcoming
OPEC+ JMMC meeting and the EU embargo on refined products."
China has been easing stringent COVID-19 restrictions this
month, with Beijing reopening its borders for the first time in
three years.
"(Commodity) markets are set to tighten significantly should the
reopening in China – the world's largest driver of commodity
demand – be orderly, and ... we anticipate conditions to be ripe
for commodity investor inflows," MUFG analyst Ehsan Khoman said.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude inventories edged up by 533,000 barrels to
448.5 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 20, the Energy
Information Administration (EIA) said.
That was short of forecasts for a 1 million barrel rise, though
the EIA says crude stocks are at their highest since June 2021.
The OPEC+ ministerial panel meeting on Feb. 1 is likely to
endorse the oil producer group's current output levels, OPEC+
sources said.
Global economic growth is forecast to barely move above 2% this
year, a Reuters poll of economists showed, suggesting that a
further downgrade is possible. That was at odds with widespread
optimism in markets since the beginning of the year.
(Reporting by Ahmad GhaddarAdditional reporting by Jeslyn Lerh
in SingaporeEditing by David Goodman)
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