Oil Price Rises Above $48 Amid COVID-19 Vaccine Optimism

Oil price rose above $48 per barrel on Wednesday as expectations that effective COVID-19 vaccine and the reports that the US President-elect, Joe Biden has started transition to the White House boost fuel demand.

Brent crude, a Nigerian type of oil, rose by $0.51 to $48.37 per barrel as of 7:00 pm Nigerian time on Wednesday, having risen almost four percent in the previous session.

The US benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, gained 24 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $45.15, after rising more than four per cent on Tuesday.

ALEDEH had reported that Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced that the Phase 3 trial of their COVID-19 vaccine showed it was 95% effective. Moderna confirmed that its vaccine was 94.5%, while AstraZeneca said its vaccine showed 70% efficiency in preventing COVID-19.

“Positive vaccine news and swift deployment views are behind a significant part of this move in the curve, supported by increasingly firm beliefs by the market that OPEC+ will extend its current output targets for Q1 2021,” said Bjornar Tonhaugen, Rystad Energy’s analyst.