# Oil futures on track for gains for week and month after U.S. prices post highest settlement since 2018

“Traders are optimistic that demand growth will accelerate with the U.S. economy picking up steam,” Marshall Steeves, energy markets analyst at IHS Markit, told MarketWatch. “The growth in the U.S. is expected to overwhelm the drag of weakness in India and Southeast Asia.”

Against that backdrop, West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery 
CLN21,
+0.09%

CL00,
+0.09%
rose 2 cents, or 0.03%, at $66.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after trading as low as $66.74. Prices based on the front-month contract on Thursday rose 1% to mark the highest settlement since Oct. 29, 2018, helping to stretch the U.S. contract’s streak of gains into a fifth-straight session.

The front-month July Brent crude
BRNN21,
+0.33%
was 18 cents, or 0.3%, higher at $69.64 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, following a 0.9% gain for the global benchmark contract that took it to the highest front-month finish since May 17 of this year.

The most active August Brent contract
BRNQ21,
+0.01%
was 6 cents, or 0.1%, lower at $69.14 a barrel, following a 0.7% gain on Thursday. The August contract will become the front month after the conclusion of Friday’s session.

Both WTI and Brent on Thursday marked their longest daily streak of gains, five consecutive sessions, since early February, according to Dow Jones Market data.

For the week, WTI was on track for weekly and monthly gains of more than 5%, based on the front-month contracts. Brent was on track for a weekly advance of over 4% and month-to-date climb of close to 4%.

Traders also await Tuesday’s meeting of OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies. Most expect the group will decide to move forward with plans to ease output curbs.

A current OPEC+ agreement calls for a gradual increase in production, which began in May and will run through July.

Some commodity experts expect that OPEC+ may adjust its plans to ease output limits based on expected Iranian production, with negotiations between Washington and Tehran under way since April.

“There remains uncertainty around the Iranian nuclear talks, which could result in a nuclear deal and possibly a quick rise in crude oil exports,” as much as 1 million barrels a day, if successful, said Steeves.

However, he said that “no change to current policy is expected.”

Meanwhile, the recovery in the U.S. from COVID is giving way to rising demand for crude and its byproducts, analysts say.

Data from the Energy Information Administration released Wednesday showed weekly declines for domestic crude, gasoline and distillate supplies.

In Friday dealings, June gasoline
RBM21,
-0.07%
was little changed at $2.15 a gallon, with prices up nearly 4% for the week and month. June heating oil
HOM21,
-0.10%
added nearly 0.1% to $2.06 a gallon, trading over 3% higher for the week, and poised for a monthly rise of 7%. The June contracts will expire at the end of the trading session.

July natural gas
NGN21,
+1.99%
tacked on 2% to trade at $3.01 per million British thermal units. Prices based on the front-month contracts traded over 3% higher for the week and were up nearly 3% for the month, FactSet data show.