Shafaq News / Oil prices rose to their highest levels in five months on Tuesday, with American producers halting most of the production from offshore fields in the Gulf of Mexico prior to Hurricane Laura, although the increasing cases of Coronavirus in Asia and Europe restricted gains.

 Brent crude ended the world record for the nearest trading session maturity, up 73 cents, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $ 45.86 a barrel.

 U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 73 cents, or 1.7 percent, to settle at $ 43.35 a barrel.

 This is the highest level of closure for both benchmarks since the fifth of March, the day before Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree on a new plan to reduce production and about a week before the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic.

 Oil also received support after US and Chinese trade officials reaffirmed the two countries ’commitment to a first-phase agreement on trade between the two largest economies in the world.

 The market is awaiting the latest data on crude oil inventories in the United States, which will be released by the American Petroleum Institute later on Tuesday and from the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

 Analysts polled by Reuters expect that US oil inventories last week recorded a fifth consecutive weekly decline.