Weekly rise in oil continues

Oil headed for its biggest monthly gain in more than a year on forecasts of record crude demand as OPEC+ cuts output and signs the market is tightening. U.S. crude held above $80 a barrel after a five-week streak of gains that took prices to their highest since April. The U.S. benchmark has risen almost 14% this month, putting it on track for the biggest advance since January 2022. That’s the best July performance in almost two decades. “Record demand and Saudi supply cuts have brought back deficits. The market has abandoned growth pessimism,” Goldman Sachs analysts including Daan Struyven and Yulia Zhestkova Grigsby wrote in a note reaffirming their forecast for Brent crude to hit $86 a barrel by December. A series of advances in oil has meant futures in New York have erased losses since the start of the year, and expectations that the Federal Reserve is close to ending its monetary tightening cycle are also helping to lift the rally, along with a weaker dollar. U.S. employment data due this week is likely to point to a healthy demand outlook, while top importer China continues to boost its economy. Easing supplies from OPEC+ mainstays Saudi Arabia and Russia have improved the outlook for crude. Earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia would cut crude exports by 500,000 bpd in August and Saudi Arabia would extend supply cuts next month. Data from China showed manufacturing contracted for a fourth month in July, while non-manufacturing grew more slowly than expected.