Prices for Brent on a five-month high

Oil prices rose on Monday, with Brent hitting its highest level in five months, aided by a 30% cut in crude oil supplies from Abu Dhabi and encouraging Chinese data, while global demand struggled to return to pre-COVID levels in a well-supplied market can reach. November Brent Crude Oil Futures (LCOc1) rose 0853 GMT to $ 46.50 a barrel, up 69 cents, or 1.5%. West Texas median crude (CLc1) was $ 43.48 a barrel, up 51 cents, or 1.2%. Brent is likely to close August with a fifth straight monthly rise, while WTI is on track for fourth monthly profit after hitting a five-month high of $ 43.78 a barrel on August 26 when Hurricane Laura struck. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company told its customers Monday that it would cut October supplies by 30% after being cut by 5% in September as ordered by the UAE government to cancel its commitment to comply with the latest OPEC + agreement. "With demand gradually recovering, this will allow the market to better absorb the inventory glut from earlier this year," said OCBC economist Howie Lee. The energy companies continued their efforts to restore operations to offshore platforms and refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast that were closed before the storm. A weak US dollar and a poll on Monday that showed surprising strength in China's services sector supported oil prices, although fuel demand has struggled to rebound amid the coronavirus pandemic and supply is still plentiful, analysts say warn of hurdles for crude oil in the future. "The oil is likely to drag higher slowly in modest increments, rather than exploding higher out of the wellhead," said Jeffrey Halley, OANDA analyst for Asia Pacific, adding that the plentiful short-term supply and fragility of the global recovery is the cause Price increases dampened. China's crude oil imports will decline for the first time in five months in September as record levels of crude oil are stored inside and outside the world's largest importer, data from Refinitiv and Vortexa show.