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Crude oil futures rebounded on Friday and Brent headed for its first monthly gain since June, helped by strong investor inflows, an improving demand outlook and supply outages. At 1453 GMT, Brent crude futures were up $1.26 at $61.32 a barrel, off an earlier high of $61.75. US crude was up 94 cents at $49.12 a barrel. Both contracts tumbled on Thursday, with US crude falling hardest.
Brent is trading at a premium of more than $12 to US crude, which remains hamstrung by massive inventory builds. This is the widest spread since January 2014.
“The main event this week has been the widening of the spread between Brent and WTI (US crude),” Ole Hansen, senior commodity strategist at Saxo Bank, said. “WTI is still only a few dollars above the lows, but Brent has lifted off.” Brent is up around 15 per cent this month from January’s close of $52.99, on course for its biggest monthly gain since May 2009. US crude is also set for its first monthly rise in eight, but with a modest gain of about 1.9 per cent.
Brent is being helped by positive euro zone and Chinese data, plus supply disruptions in Libya, said Hans van Cleef, energy economist at ABN Amro.
