Oil rose on Wednesday, with Brent at $40 for the first time since March, as optimism mounted that major producers will extend production cuts and a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic will spur fuel demand.
Brent crude futures for August rose 43 cents, or 1.1%, at $40 a barrel, by 0252 GMT. The contract climbed to as high as $40.42, the highest since March 6, after gaining 3.3% on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.
Read alsoUkraine's NSDC secretary insists on balanced operation of electricity market
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 68 cents, or 1.9%, at $37.49 a barrel. It rose to as much as $37.88, also the highest since March 6. The contract ended the previous session up 3.9%.
Both benchmarks have risen sharply in recent weeks from the lows of April, buoyed by a continuing recovery in China, the epicentre of the virus outbreak, while other economies are slowly opening up after lockdowns to contain its spread.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers including Russia, a group known as OPEC+, may extend production cuts of 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or about 10% of global output, into July or August, sources told Reuters.
The cuts are currently due to run through May and June, scaling back to a reduction of 7.7 million bpd from July to December, but Saudi Arabia has been pushing to keep the deeper cuts in place for longer.
