27.09.202110:29:00UTC+00Brent Oil Nears $80 A Barrel On Supply Concerns

Oil prices rose for a fifth straight session on Monday, with Brent futures heading towards $80 per barrel on supply concerns and amid optimism over rising demand.

Benchmark Brent crude futures climbed $1.02, or 1.3 percent, to $78.25 a barrel, after seeing three straight weeks of gains. U.S. oil futures were up 93 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $74.91, after having risen for a fifth straight week last week.

Oil prices have been rallying amid concerns about supply as demand picks up in parts of the world with the easing of pandemic restrictions.

U.S. oil inventories are down 16 percent year-on-year and down 23 percent from their June 2020 pandemic-driven, all-time peak as the world's largest economy emerges from lockdown.

Supply is not growing much as oil producers' cartel OPEC and its allies seem keen to increase their output only very gradually.

Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for year-end Brent crude oil prices to $90 per barrel from $80, citing a faster fuel demand recovery from the outbreak of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and Hurricane Ida's hit to U.S. production.

OPEC+ have had difficulty raising output as under-investment or maintenance delays persist from the pandemic.