Oil Prices Rise More Than 3% After Expectations of Higher Demand 

September 26, 2017

Crude-oil prices settled sharply higher Monday, lifting Brent crude to a more than two-year high and West Texas Intermediate crude into a bull market and its highest finish in about five months

Prices found support, with WTI climbing by more than 20% from lows in June to meet the definition of a bull market, as data showed major producers’ strong commitment to their agreement to cut output and as talk of a likely extension of the deal grows.

October West Texas Intermediate crude CLX7, -0.23% tacked on $1.56, or 3.1%, to settle at $52.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices saw their highest settlement since mid-April and stand at about 22% above the lows seen in June.

November Brent LCOX7, -0.02% the global benchmark, climbed $2.16, or 3.8%, at $59.02 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange. That was the highest front-month contract finish since early July 2015, according to FactSet data. Both contracts logged a fourth-straight session climb.

OPEC and 10 producers outside the cartel, including Russia, first agreed late in 2016 to cap their production at around 1.8 million barrels a day lower than peak October 2016 levels, with the aim of alleviating global oversupply and boosting prices. The deal was extended in May through March 2018.

Over the past few weeks, a number of signatories to the deal have indicated a willingness to hold back production potentially through 2018.