TOKYO (Reuters) – Oil prices rose for a fourth day on Friday, taking Brent towards three-year highs, as investors focused on tighter supplies amid strong appetite for riskier assets like crude and high hopes for recovery from the pandemic.

After touching a two month high on Thursday, Brent was at $77.65 per barrel by 0037 GMT. It closed at its highest level since October 2018.

U.S. oil prices were up 0.4% at $73.57/barrel, closing at 1.5% the previous session. It was also up 27 cents in U.S. Oil.

Edward Moya from OANDA, senior market analyst said: “Crude oil prices seem to be heading higher…with risk appetite running wild.”

As a result of stronger fuel demand, U.S. East Coast refineries saw their capacity utilization rate rise to 93% in May 2019, Energy Information Administration data revealed.

EIA data released earlier in this week indicated that inventories dropped to almost three-years lows after the damage caused by two hurricanes in the United States. [EIAS]

OPEC+ and some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have had difficulty increasing their output due to under-investment, delays or insufficient maintenance work. These were the results of the worst international health crisis in more than 100 years.

According to traders and analysts, U.S. refiners still have the option to seek out oil from Iraqi or Canada to replace U.S. Gulf crude that was damaged by storms, while Asian buyers now prefer to purchase Middle Eastern and Russian oil.