The price of oil has recovered to pre-pandemic levels having hit an all-time low last year.
Prices have finally reached $60 a barrel having risen more than 50% over the past few months.
Brent crude, the major benchmark for oil, has seen impressive growth recently. Futures contracts, which are based on the price of future delivery, have jumped 59% since November.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the benchmark for US oil, last week rose above $55 a barrel for the first time in over a year.
Oil prices are often seen as a barometer for the health of the global economy, which is still struggling with the virus downturn.
Demand has been rising in some parts of the world, notably Asia. “We are quite optimistic about what it is that we are seeing in China,” Royal Dutch Shell chief executive Ben van Beurden said last week.
While broader demand is still lower than normal, there are hopes of a speedier than expected economic recovery as vaccines are rolled out.
The coronavirus crisis has been devastating for the petroleum industry. Last year, prices slumped below zero with more than one billion surplus barrels.
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