Oil posts best week since April on eve of summer travel season

Bloomberg

Oil posted its biggest weekly gain since the middle of April ahead of the US Memorial Day weekend that kicks off country’s summer driving season.
West Texas Intermediate rises 4.3% this week. A spate of positive US economic data this week continued to highlight the recovery taking shape in the world’s largest oil-consuming country, while Americans are expected to unleash demand built up during the pandemic from this weekend onward.
With more drivers taking to the road and with some of the lowest gasoline stockpiles in almost 30 years, some see the US facing a supply squeeze on par with those seen when a hurricane knocks out oil refineries in Texas and Louisiana.
“The demand outlook appears very robust, especially in the US, and it’s really improving in Europe as well,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda Corp. “There’s optimism that the advanced economies are going to have Covid in the reaview mirror by the end of the summer.”
Still, futures declined, snapping a five-day winning streak, as prices have remained stuck in a $10 range since March. Supply concerns remain over international talks to revive the Iran nuclear accord, which could pave the way for more oil flowing from the country. At the same time, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies meet next week, with delegates saying the alliance looks set to rubberstamp oil-output increases.
Ministers from the Opec+ alliance are set to meet on June 1 to assess the global market and their production policy. All but four of 24 analysts and traders surveyed by Bloomberg predict they’ll ratify an 840,000-barrel-a-day increase scheduled for July, completing a three-part process to revive just over 2 million barrels this summer.
The market’s positive outlook is reflected in WTI’s longer-term spreads. The price of the US benchmark for December 2021 was $4.75 a barrel higher than futures for the same month in 2022. The differential has expanded by almost $1 this week to hit the highest since mid-March.