FX.co ★ Oil Futures Settle Sharply Higher

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday with traders assessing crude supply levels amid concerns over gas supply from Russia.

A weak dollar contributed significantly to the jump in oil prices. The dollar index dropped to 106.89 before recovering to 107.30, but still remained firmly down with a loss of more than 0.6%.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended higher by $5.01 or about 5.1% at $102.60 a barrel, finishing about the $100 mark for the first time in a week.

Brent crude futures settled higher by about 5% at $106.27 a barrel.

WTI Crude futures and Brent crude has surged 1.9% and 2%, respectively, on Friday.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who visited the Middle East, returned without getting assurances from key producer Saudi Arabia to boost oil supply.

Saudi's foreign minister reportedly said that there was no discussion on oil at the U.S.-Arab summit and that OPEC+ would continue to assess market conditions and what is necessary.

Despite persisting concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to Covid-related curbs in China, oil prices moved higher on supply worries.

Markets also remain focused on the resumption of Russian gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on July 21, when the current maintenance stoppage is due to end. There are growing fears that the shutdown may be extended because of the war in Ukraine.