Oil jumped for a second straight day yesterday, with benchmark Brent crude returning above the $80 level after slipping below it last week, as top petroleum buyer China cut interest rates and speculation mounted that OPEC will cut output.
Higher heating oil prices on concerns over unseasonably cold weather across America also supported the oil complex, traders said.
“I hear more and more sounds indicating that markets are expecting a possible cut in Opec production, from a more balanced view earlier,” said Hans van Cleef, senior energy economist at Dutch bank ABN Amro in Amsterdam.
Brent’s front-month was up 80 cents at US$80.13 a barrel by 1545GMT, after earlier rising US$2.28 to a session high of US$81.61.
Front-month US crude traded 45 cents higher at US$76.30, after an intraday peak of US$77.83.