On Monday crude oil futures rose slightly as firm global demand offset a strong dollar, but
a public holiday in the United States and much of Europe kept trading subdued.
The greenback remained near two-month highs against the euro and yen as well as a one-month peak against a basket of currencies. By 2 pm GMT, front-month Brent
crude rose 6 cents to $65.43 a barrel, after touching an
intraday low of $64.72.
WTI was down 30 cents at $59.42 a barrel,
after reaching $59.10 earlier in the session.
Strong demand across Asia and the United States gave a boost to the market, Reuters says.
As Energy Aspects said, global oil demand continues to surprise to the upside, with data signaling no signs of slowdown in April despite pickup in prices.
Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports surged 9.1 percent year-on-year to 3.62 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, the Finance Ministry said.
In China, crude imports touched a record 7.4 million bpd in April, with healthy car sales countering a slowing economy. "The overall fundamentals still point to a
well-supplied market, a fact that should continue to put a ceiling on
prices," Barclays said.
In the Middle East, Iran, a member
of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is to raise its oil output by 170,000
bpd by March 2016, the official IRNA news agency cited an Iranian oil
official as saying.
If Tehran and six major
powers finalize a nuclear agreement by a June 30 deadline, Iran is planning to boost crude exports by up to 1 million bpd.
