Oil prices, gasoline demand climb as countries ease coronavirus curbs

TOKYO, May 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices were on the rise on
Friday, heading for a fourth straight week of gains, amid more
evidence that fuel demand is recovering as countries ease
business and social restrictions that were imposed to counter
the coronavirus pandemic.
Brent crude LCOc1 was up 14 cents, or 0.4%, at $36.20 a
barrel by 0040 GMT, after gaining nearly 1% on Thursday. The
contract is heading for a jump of more than 10% for the week.
West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was up 5 cents, or
0.2%, at $33.97 a barrel, having gained more than 1% in the last
session. The U.S. benchmark is on track for a weekly jump of
around 15%.
The lifting of some coronavirus curbs is driving a recovery
in gasoline demand with traffic congestion in some of the
world's capitals returning to year-earlier levels, data prepared
for Reuters shows. Traffic flows in Berlin and Tokyo have seen a rebound,
according to the data, while in the United States the easing of
restrictions in many states has supported demand for gasoline.
The upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend typically kicks off
the U.S. summer driving season.
"While the vacations outlook remains an open-ended question,
a degree of summer driving will be salvaged compared to (the
level it would have been at) had U.S. states delayed relaxing
lockdown policies," RBC Capital Markets said in a note.
U.S. inventories also fell this week against expectations of
rise, suggesting the overall supply overhang in the market is
clearing. EIA/S
Meanwhile oil exports from OPEC+ - meaning the Organization
of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allies -
have fallen by about 6 million barrels per day (bpd), according
to companies that track oil flows. That suggests broad compliance with a deal struck by members
of the OPEC+ grouping to cut supply by a record 9.7 million bpd
from this month in an effort to support prices.