Barclays raised its Brent oil price forecast, saying Brent will average $60/bbl during the fourth quarter and will average $55/bbl in 2018. The average 2018 forecast was up $3 compared with Barclays earlier forecast.

Crude oil imports by China's independent refineries in eastern Shandong province, Xinhai Petrochemical in Hebei and Fengli Petrochemical in Henan rebounded 11% month on month to around 7.435 million mt in October, or 1.76 million b/d.

The step to restructure debt comes as Venezuela stands to receive more revenue for its oil. The country’s crude oil basket price rose to CNY350.75 ($52.90) a barrel Friday, the highest since July 2015. And Venezuela did approve a $1.1 billion principal payment on a PDVSA bond on Thursday.

Brent futures LCOc1 were at $60.75 per barrel at 0739 GMT, up 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close. Brent has risen by around 37 percent since its low in 2017 reached last June. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was at $54.70 a barrel, up 16 cents, or 0.3 percent, from the last close. WTI is around 30 percent above its 2017-low in June.

OPEC daily basket price stood at $58.49 a barrel Thursday, 2 November 2017

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 59 cents at $61.53 per barrel at 0905 GMT, having hit a session peak of $61.70 earlier, the highest since July 2015. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 was at $55.12 a barrel, up 74 cents.

ICE Brent crude futures remained at 27-month highs in mid-morning trade in Asia Monday, following the gains last week on the expectation that planned supply cuts will be extended to the end of 2018.

Access to modern energy is incomplete. With a total population of nearly 640 million, an estimated 65 million people remain without electricity and 250 million are reliant on solid biomass as a cooking fuel. Investment in upstream oil and gas has been hit by lower prices since 2014 and the region faces a dwindling position as a gas exporter, and a rising dependency on imported oil.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $60.55 per barrel at 0655 GMT, 10 cents or 0.15 percent above their last settlement and near their highest level since July 2015. They have risen more than 36 percent since from 2017-lows marked in June. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $54.01 a barrel.

WBG - Oil prices are forecast to rise to $56 a barrel in 2018 from $53 this year as a result of steadily growing demand, agreed production cuts among oil exporters and stabilizing U.S. shale oil production, while the surge in metals prices is expected to level off next year, the World Bank said.

IMF - Saudi Arabia had made good progress in initiating its ambitious reform agenda. Fiscal consolidation efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Progress with reforms to improve the business environment are gaining momentum, and a framework to increase the transparency and accountability of government is in place. Effective prioritization, sequencing, and coordination of the reforms is essential, and they need to be well-communicated and equitable to gain social buy-in to ensure their success.

ExxonMobil and Chevron, the two largest US oil and gas groups, are continuing to lose money on oil and gas production in their home country, in spite of the rise in commodity prices since last year.

Brent LCOc1 rose 59 cents to $58.89 a barrel by 10:51 a.m. ET, after rising to a session high of $60.08, the highest since July 2015 and more than 35 percent above its 2017 lows touched in June. U.S. light crude oil CLc1 was up 78 cents, or 1.48 percent at $53.42 after rising to a session high of $53.52 a barrel. U.S. crude prices have been capped by rising U.S. production.

Oil closed at its highest in more than two years in London, nearing $60 a barrel, as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman backed the extension of OPEC output cuts.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 8 cents at $58.41 a barrel by 0646 GMT, after settling on Tuesday up 96 cents, or 1.7 percent. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was trading down 9 cents at $52.38.