Oil prices surged on Tuesday

International benchmarks for oil prices leaped higher on Tuesday (24 May) as market await weekly commercial crude inventories report from the US Department of Energy. Trades are generally expecting lower inventories levels given outages in Canada - the biggest supplier of crude to the United States. Political unrest in Nigeria has had major oil producers in the country declared force majeure also support the recent firming sentiment.

WTI closed at $48.62/barrel (+$0.54) for June delivery

Brent closed at $48.61/barrel (+$0.26) for July delivery