Oil gains as optimism on demand recovery rises

Oil drilling rigs

Oil maintained its upward trend today, Oct. 20, amid optimism about demand recovery as China began to ease of some restrictions related to COVID-19.

Brent crude was trading up 0.82% at $93.17 a barrel, at 9:12 am Makkah time. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 1.51% to $86.84 a barrel.

Chinese officials are debating whether to reduce the amount of time people coming into the country must spend in mandatory quarantine, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

Meanwhile, the data from the US Energy Information Administration showed that oil production in the United States rose to 12 million barrels per day in the week ended Oct. 14, and exports increased by 1.266 million barrels, while imports fell by 156,000 barrels.