Oil prices edge up on increased fuel demand

Congestion in Shanghai in the past few weeks was higher than in the same period last year, while in Moscow traffic was back to last year’s levels, data provided to Reuters by location technology company TomTom showed.

However, there are fears a surge in Covid-19 infections in southern US states could stall the demand recovery, especially as some of those states, such as Florida and Texas, are among the biggest petrol consumers.

The global economic outlook has also worsened or, at best, stayed about the same in the past month, a majority of economists polled by Reuters said, and the recession is expected to be deeper than earlier predicted.

“It does appear the market is ignoring supply and demand fundamentals and moving on sentiment,” said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.

The prospect of increased US crude production also kept a lid on gains on Friday.

A survey of executives in the top US oil and gas producing region by the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank found more than half of executives who cut production expect to resume some output by the end of July.

Reuters