The photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Gulf Today Report

Oil advanced on Thursday as Britain starts vaccinating its residents and United states approval of the vaccine.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 25 cents, or 0.6%, to $45.77 a barrel at 05:00 GMT, while Brent crude futures climbed 22 cents, or 0.5%, to $49.08 a barrel. Prices were little changed overnight.

 Howie Lee, an economist at Singapore’s OCBC bank said: "the market is looking past what looks like a difficult winter and peering into the optimistic lens of 2021."

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In a note by ANZ analysts, COVID-19 vaccine could lead to economic recovery, it is likely to cap the decline in the oil market.

"However, there are some hurdles before the oil market can assume the worst is over ... many governments are currently increasing restrictions to halt a resurgent spread while vaccine mass-production and distribution is worked out,” ANZ analysts added.

 The blaze in a small northern Iraq oilfield affected oil prices. The Iraqi government described the blaze as a “terrorist attack”. The blaze didn’t affect production though.