Oil jumped to the highest in two weeks after the US and China reached a partial agreement following trade talks and as an Iranian oil tanker was struck.
Futures in New York climbed 2.2 percent on Friday and the global benchmark Brent closed above US$60 a barrel for the first time in nearly two weeks.
The US and China on Friday reached a partial agreement that would broker a truce in their trade dispute.
Further adding fuel to the oil rally, a National Iranian Tanker Co ship, capable of carrying 1 million barrels a of crude, caught fire after a blast off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
“We had some good statements come out of the US-China talks,” Ashley Petersen, an oil analyst at Stratas Advisors LLC in New York.
The discussions seemed to end “very peacefully and now we are going to see what next steps entail. That was the best case scenario for these talks today.”
While optimism around US and China trade talks, as well as the tanker explosion, have pushed crude higher, bearish factors in the market remain.
The International Energy Agency, which advises major economies, trimmed forecasts for global oil demand growth this year and the next by 100,000 barrels a day amid a deteriorating economic backdrop.
West Texas Intermediate for November delivery advanced US$1.15 to settle atUS $54.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the biggest gain in more than three weeks. Prices advanced 3.6 percent this week.
Brent crude for December settlement rose US$1.41 to end the session at US$60.51 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange. The contract is up 3.7 percent this week.
The global benchmark traded at a premium of US$5.73 a barrel to West Texas Intermediate for the same month.
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