(Reuters) – Oil prices rose in early trade on Friday, set to snap a three-week losing streak, amid rising fuel demand and expectations that Trump’s plans for reciprocal global tariffs would not come into effect until April, giving more time to avoid a trade war.
Brent futures were up 19 cents at $75.25 a barrel by 0300 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 12 cents to $71.41.
For the week, Brent was up 0.7% and WTI 0.5%.
Global oil demand has surged to 103.4 million barrels per day, a 1.4 million bpd increase year-over-year, analysts at JPMorgan said in a report on Friday.
“Initially sluggish, demand for mobility and heating fuels picked up in the second week of February, suggesting the gap between actual and projected demand will soon narrow,” JPMorgan said.
“Heating fuel use is expected to rise again. Additionally, soaring gas prices in Europe could prompt a shift from gas to oil, boosting demand.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered commerce and economics officials to study reciprocal tariffs against countries that place tariffs on U.S. goods and to return their recommendations by April 1.
However, a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine kept traders concerned that an end of sanctions on Moscow could boost global energy supplies.
Also this week, Trump ordered U.S. officials to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine, after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expressed a desire for peace in separate phone calls with him.
Russian oil exports could be sustained if workarounds to the latest U.S. sanctions package are found, after Russian crude production rose slightly last month, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest oil market report.
Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer and sanctions imposed on its crude exports after its invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago have supported higher prices.
(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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