By Peter Nurse
Investing.com -- Crude oil prices strengthened Tuesday, on raised hopes of a global economic recovery following strong Chinese import data and a positive OPEC monthly report.
By 9:30 AM ET (1430 GMT), U.S. crude futures traded 1% higher at $60.28 a barrel, while the international benchmark Brent contract rose 1.1% to $63.97.
U.S. Gasoline RBOB Futures were up 0.7% at $1.9832 a gallon.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Tuesday raised its demand forecast by 190,000 barrels a day from its March estimate, expecting consumption to average 96.46 million barrels a day this year.
In its monthly market report, the organization saw global oil demand growing 5.95 million barrels a day in 2021, citing economic stimulus programs and a further easing of Covid-19 lockdown measures.
This marks an abrupt change, as only two weeks ago, OPEC cut its 2021 oil demand growth forecast by about 5%, to 5.6 million barrels a day.
Evidence of increasing demand for crude came from strong Chinese import data, released earlier Tuesday.
Crude oil imports into China, the largest importer of oil in the world, jumped 21% in March from a year earlier as refiners ramped up operations to cope with the recovery in demand in the world's second-largest economy.
Added to this, the International Monetary Fund offered a more upbeat view on Tuesday on Asia's economic outlook than six months ago, expecting the region's economy to expand 7.6% this year, up from an 6.9% increase projected in October.
Attention will now turn to the latest U.S. supply data from the American Petroleum Institute. U.S. These crude stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week for a third straight week, while distillate and gasoline inventories are expected to have grown.
America’s vaccination program has been very successful, with 36% of the U.S. population having received at least one dose and 22% being fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, as of Sunday.
That said, the United States reported an 8% rise in new cases of Covid-19 to 490,000 last week, the fourth week in a row that infections have increased, potentially setting back the time frame for the whole country to reopen and oil demand to return to normal.