Gained oil prices on Friday increased the hopes that the demand for crude oil and its products will begin to increase as the number of countries where the restrictions applied to stop the coronavirus pandemic relax.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up by 42 cents, or 1.4%, at $29.88 a barrel by 0447 GMT, having fallen nearly 1% on Thursday.
WTI crude oil CLc1 gained 45 cents, or 1.9%, to $24.00 a barrel, after a decline of nearly 2% in the previous session.
Both contracts rose for the second week since the lowest levels in April, when US oil fell below zero going to earnings. Brent is about 13% and WTI 21%.
Petrol is hopeful with better demand prospects. Crude oil continues to be pumped into tanks, increasing the likelihood of limiting gains from stronger demand.
On the supply side, North American oil companies cut production faster than OPEC officials and industry analysts had expected, and are on track to pull back about 1.7 million barrels a day by the end of June. These supply cuts give the market confidence.
On Friday, Australia was the last country to plan to alleviate virus-induced restrictions and aims to relax social distancing restrictions in a three-step process.
Countries such as France, parts of the US and Pakistan also plan to alleviate restrictions gradually to stop the spread of the virus.
In the U.S., the largest consumer of oil and its products, drivers began to hit the road as flexible applications for normalization began. According to estimates, gasoline supplied to the US market rose to about 6.7 million barrels a day (bpd) last week.
