Oil prices rise as full US approval for Pfizer vaccine stokes demand hopes

Oil prices rose on Tuesday after the US drug regulator granted full approval to the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE COVID-19 vaccine, stoking investor hopes that higher fuel demand would follow a potential rise in US coronavirus vaccination rates.

Brent crude oil futures were up 46 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $69.21 a barrel by 0648 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) had gained 34 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $65.98.

Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.

Both benchmarks jumped more than 5 percent on Monday, helped by a weaker US dollar, after marking their biggest week of losses in more than nine months last week.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which last December authorized the Pfizer/BioNtech two-dose vaccine for emergency use, has now issued full approval for use in people age 16 and older.

Health officials hope the action will convince unvaccinated Americans that the shot is safe and effective, and expect it could also prompt more state and local governments, as well as private employers, to impose vaccine mandates.

“With many corporations and government agencies likely to enforce vaccine mandates, return to office travel should dramatically pick up in the fall,” said Edward Moya, senior analyst at OANDA.

Also boosting prices, US crude and gasoline inventories likely declined last week, while distillate stockpiles are expected to have increased, a preliminary Reuters poll ahead of industry data showed on Monday.

Indian refiners’ crude throughput in July bounced to its highest in three months as fuel demand rebounded, which supported prices.

The rapid spread of the highly infectious delta variant of the novel coronavirus and low vaccination rates in Asia, overall, however, capped price gains as fuel demand is suppressed.

The US Department of Energy said Monday it would sell up to 20 million barrels of crude from the emergency oil reserve to comply with legislation passed in recent years, with deliveries of the oil to take place between October 1 and December 15.

Read more: Value of Saudi Arabia’s June oil exports rise 123 pct to over $16 bln