By Barani Krishnan

Investing.com — You thought that oil prices would fall? Think again.

Crude oil prices rose for the second consecutive day, jumping almost 4% after an increase of 6% in the previous session. After the 13% decline in the previous two weeks, oil is now up for a week-to date gain of 6%.

Global crude benchmark was up $4.03, or 3.9%, at $108.99 per barrel by 2:35 PM ET (18:35 GMT), adding to Tuesday’s 6.3% gain.

New York-traded U.S. crude oil benchmark, WTI (or WTI) finished the session at $104.25, up 3.6%. The previous session saw a 6.7% increase.

Crude prices began their ascent from Tuesday as China rolled back some of its most stringent Covid lockdown measures of the past two weeks, fostering hopes of a pick up in energy consumption in the world’s No. Number 2 crude oil consumer. 

Oil was also helped in the previous session by the caution from the 23-strong OPEC+ alliance that its non-Russian members cannot — or will not — make up for Russian production lost as a result of Western sanctions. 

Wednesday’s rally came on the back of higher U.S. fuel consumption indicated by weekly inventory data released by the Energy Information Administration, or EIA. 

Delta Airlines (NYSE 🙂 acknowledged that consumers were accepting higher fares to offset its costs. This suggests that there will also be an increase in demand for jet fuel.

Adding to the market’s upside were new geopolitical tensions from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Moscow warning that any attack on its territory will be reciprocated with strikes at places where such decisions were made, including Kyiv.

“Oil prices are looking very comfortable above the $100 level as U.S. and Chinese demand seems to be heading in the right direction,” said Ed Moya, analyst at online trading platform OANDA.