What is driving oil prices up today? Oil prices have rebounded after an initial decline during the day and are ending the week with a strong increase, Thanks to signals of increased demand in China.

March Brent crude futures on London’s ICE Futures exchange traded at $84.83 per barrel, up $0.8 (0.95%) from the close of the previous session.

The price of WTI futures for February crude oil grew by that time by $0.78 per barrel to $79.17 per barrel on NYMEX electronic trading.

Why are oil prices up today?

Oil prices may rise by 7-8% over a week. The PRC authorities have significantly increased oil import quotas for local companies, which indicates an expected increase in refinery output.

Investor optimism about the U.S. economic outlook provides additional support to the market, notes Bloomberg. Statistics data published the day before showed a slowdown in inflation in the U.S., which reinforced expectations of the imminent end of the cycle to increase the basic interest rate in the country.

Consumer prices (CPI) in the U.S. in December rose by 6.5% compared to the same month last year, said Thursday the Labor Department. Thus, inflation slowed from 7.1% in November, the lowest since October 2021. Consumer prices fell 0.1% from the previous month, the first month-on-month decline since 2020.

Earlier, we reported that ConocoPhillips is negotiating to import Venezuelan oil to the US.