Crude oil prices bounced back sharply today after last week's huge drop caused by evidence of dampening demand for energy.
Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June jumped $3.24 to $112.37 a barrel in London trade. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for June, gained $2.91 to $100.09 a barrel.
Prices were also recovering in the wake of positive employment data from the US, the world's biggest oil consumer, traders said. The US Labor Department's stronger-than-expected jobs creation data hinted at a growing economy, although the overall unemployment rate also rose to 9%.
Meanwhile, Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed Saleh al-Sada said on Sunday that an upcoming OPEC meeting could not be expected to make any major change to oil output, insisting production and supplies were at healthy levels.
'We think the fundamentals are fine and we can't see shortage of supply. OPEC countries and non-OPEC countries are producing and supplying and satisfying the world demands,' he said.
'Clearly the supply level and the stocks level is healthy, and we are after the stability of oil prices,' he added.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps out about 40% of the world's oil, holds its next policy meeting on June 8 in Vienna.
