Oil prices remained above their three-month highs in Thursday's trading, continuing a series of strong rally that started a week ago, as global markets received support from a breakthrough in trade relations between the United States and China.
Oil prices continued to rise for the third week in a row, with Brent crude recording $ 66.27, while US crude oil approached $ 61 a barrel.
The move came thanks to the momentum generated by this month's announcements of increased oil production cuts by major producers, as well as the "one-stage" agreement between the United States and China to end their long-running trade war.
The US crude inventories data contributed to the rise in prices, as it decreased in the week ending December 13.
The agreement between the two largest economies in the world also pushed the outlook for the global economy to improve, raising the prospects for increased energy demand in the coming year, and supporting oil prices.
A breakthrough
In another sign of a breakthrough in relations, the Chinese Ministry of Finance released today a new list of six US products that will be exempt from customs duties as of December 26.
Last week, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers such as Russia agreed to increase oil production cuts by five hundred thousand barrels per day as of January 1, in addition to previous cuts of 1.2 million barrels per day.