LONDON—Oil prices rose on Friday, buoyed by evidence of tightening supplies and economic stimulus in slow-recovering China.
Brent futures were up 94 cents at $80.58 a barrel by 0955 GMT—rising as high as $1 earlier—while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also climbed 94 cents to $76.59 a barrel.
The supply deficit that had been looming in the second half of the year is now backed up by hard figures, Commerzbank analysts said, citing recent data indicating China and India’s imports of crude oil from Russia hit an all-time high in June.
However, buying interest from India is likely to weaken, given narrowing discounts and payment problems. Meanwhile, in early July Russia joined Saudi Arabia in cutting output for August….