Brent rises to $70 after China’s positive economic data

Oil prices rose on Monday, with Brent crude crossing $70-mark in early session, amid positive economic data from China and updates on coronavirus.

Brent crude was trading up 0.6% at $69.60 per barrel (bbl), at 9 am Makkah time. The international benchmark touched $70.03/bbl earlier in the session.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 0.7% to $66.04/bbl.

China’s industrial data revealed that production increased by 35.1% year-on-year (YoY) in January and February 2021, and by 16.9% when compared to the same period in 2019.

The data also showed that China's production of crude oil rose 0.4% in the first two months of this year to 3.97 million barrels per day, compared to 3.89 million barrels per day during the same period of 2020.