U.S. crude

Oil prices rose on Monday as China’s plans to ship in large volumes of U.S. crude in August and September outweighed concerns over a slowdown in demand amid the coronavirus pandemic and an uptick in supplies.

Brent crude added 30 cents, or 0.7 per cent to $45.10 a barrel by 0410 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 34 cents, or 0.8 per cent to $42.35 a barrel.

Chinese state-owned oil firms have tentatively booked tankers to transport at least 20 million barrels of U.S. crude for August and September, Reuters reported on Friday.

This is as China …