Brent crude traded over $45 a barrel on Wednesday on the back of positive developments about the COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech.
International benchmark Brent crude was trading at $45.02 per barrel at 09.45 GMT on Wednesday with a 3.23% increase after closing Tuesday at $43.61 a barrel. This is the highest price since Sept. 3 when it reached at $44.65 per barrel.
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was at $42.81 per barrel at the same time for a 3.5% increase after ending the previous session at $41.36 a barrel.
US drugmaker Pfizer and German biotech firm BioNTech announced Monday that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate is more than 90% effective. It supported prices upwards.
The hopes over an effective vaccine treatment for COVID-19 continues to support prices on Wednesday despite the manufacturing and distribution timeframe of the vaccine is still unknown. The companies said they will submit the vaccine candidate to the US government by the third week of this month.
Meanwhile the expectations that OPEC+ oil production cut agreement will be extended at their next meeting between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 also drives up the markets as Saudi Arabia and Iraq affirmed commitment to OPEC+ agreement on late Tuesday.
According to a joint statement by Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, both countries stressed full commitment to all decisions that have been agreed upon, in a manner that guarantees reaching fair and appropriate oil prices for exporters and consumers in the global oil market.
The OPEC+ group is currently capping production by 7.7 million barrels per day.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr