Oil Jumps More Than 3%

Oil prices jumped on Friday, heading for weekly gains of more than 3 percent, amid increasing evidence of tight supply over the next few months, with increased expectations of a shift to petroleum products in light of the sharp rise in natural gas and coal prices.

Brent crude futures touched their highest since October 2018, and rose 84 cents, or 1 percent, to $84.84 a barrel by 11:30 GMT. Prices for the month of the nearest maturity rose 3 percent this week, heading for a sixth consecutive week of rising.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 74 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $82.05 a barrel, after rising 87 cents on Thursday. And crude contracts are about to achieve a 3.4 percent increase this week, to rise for the eighth consecutive week.

Analysts pointed to a sharp decline in oil stocks in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to their lowest level since 2015.

Demand has rebounded with the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the industry shifting away from expensive gas and coal to fuel oil and diesel for power.

The US Energy Information Administration said on Thursday that crude stocks rose by 6.1 million barrels in the week ending October 8 to 427 million barrels, compared to expectations of analysts in a Reuters poll of an increase of 702,000 barrels.