Oil rose to $67 a barrel and was heading for a weekly gain as a stronger demand outlook and signs of economic recovery in China and the United States offset rising COVID-19 infections in some other major economies

Demand will rise by 5.95 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021, or 6.6%, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries forecast in its monthly report. That is up 70,000 bpd from last month

Energy giant Saudi Aramco said it has struck a 12.4-billion-dollar deal to sell a minority stake in a newly formed oil pipeline business to a consortium led by US-based EIG Global Energy Partners

Spanish energy firm Repsol said it will furlough up to 830 workers at its A Coruna and Puertollano refineries in Spain as pandemic restrictions have led to an “unprecedented” slump in demand for fuels

Activity and spending in U.S. oil fields is soaring this year as the industry recovers from last year’s pandemic-driven oil price crash, according to cautiously optimistic energy company executives polled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in a survey

With oil prices making steady gains earlier this year, OPEC and other producers had hoped to ease output cuts, but industry sources say a fresh wave of lockdowns around the world threatens to tear up those plans

Oil rose more than 2% after a ship ran aground in the Suez Canal raising supply concerns, although fears of a slow recovery in demand due to European lockdowns limited gains

US refiners are scaling back on hiring ships for longer periods to save on costs in another sign of uncertainty over when global oil demand will return to pre-COVID levels

Royal Dutch Shell’s 2020 earnings from trading crude oil and refined products doubled from the previous year to $2.6 billion, helping to offset a sharp drop in fuel demand due to the coronavirus pandemic

OPEC said a recovery in oil demand will be focused on the second half of the year as the impact of the pandemic lingers as a headwind for the group and its allies in supporting the market