The US Senate approved legislation to end the federal shutdown. Oil prices rose on Monday on optimism that the US government shutdown could end soon and boost demand in the world’s largest oil consumer. This offsets concerns about rising global supply.
Brent crude futures rose 39 cents, or 0.61%, to $64.02 a barrel by 07:51 GMT. WTI crude rose 43 cents, or 0.72%, to $60.18 a barrel.
Global markets are buoyed by the US Senate’s decision to vote on reopening the federal government on Sunday, ending the historic US government shutdown, which is now in its 40th day.
The upcoming reopening is a welcome development, ensuring the payment of salaries for 800,000 federal employees and the restart of vital programs that will boost consumer confidence, activity, and spending.
This will also help improve market risk perceptions and lead to a recovery in WTI prices toward $62 per barrel.
Analysts were concerned about the potential impact of flight cancellations on US jet fuel demand. Airlines canceled more than 2,800 US flights and delayed more than 10,200 on Sunday, the heaviest outages since the start of the US government shutdown.
Brent and WTI fell nearly 2% last week, posting their second weekly decline amid fears of oversupply. OPEC+ agreed to slightly increase production in December but paused further increases in the first quarter of 2026.
Crude oil inventories in the US have been rising, and the volume of oil stored on ships in Asian waters has doubled in recent weeks as Western sanctions restrict imports from Russia to China and India, and inadequate import quotas reduce demand from independent Chinese refiners.
Indian refineries have turned to the Middle East and the United States to meet sanctioned Russian supply needs.
Russian oil producer Lukoil is facing mounting disruptions as the November 21 deadline for the US to stop doing business with the company approaches and the sale of its operations to Swiss trader Gunvor falls through.
By the way, Washington has allowed Hungary to import Russian energy. Trump’s decision to grant Hungary a one-year exemption from US sanctions on Russian oil imports has fueled concerns about a global oversupply.