Brent closed up 2.40% to over $46 and WTI passed the $43 mark thanks to a 1.50% increase.

Oil prices climbed to a three-month high on Monday, encouraged by advances in COVID-19 vaccines and a possible move by OPEC+ to limit the supply of black gold.

The contract on a barrel of North Sea Brent for delivery in January gained 2.40% or $1.1 to $46.06.

In New York, the US barrel of WTI for December ended up 1.50% or 64 cents, at $43.06.

The two benchmark prices have reached levels more seen since the end of August and are up nearly 30% since the last lows in early November.

"Oil prices started the week on a positive note, capitalizing on news around the Covid-19 vaccine, with estimates of the availability of these vaccines taking the place of concerns about oil demand in the short term," said Bjornar Tonhaugen of Rystad Energy.

"Investors are betting on the effectiveness of the vaccine and, with it, on a slowdown in the number of coronavirus cases in a few months," said Carlo Alberto De Casa, an analyst at Activtrades.

Hopes for massive vaccination campaigns against COVID-19, which should begin before the end of the year, were reinforced on Monday morning by the announcement of the British laboratory AstraZeneca.

The firm, associated with the University of Oxford, has developed a vaccine that is 70% effective on average, or even 90% in some cases, according to the interim results of large-scale clinical trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil.

These results seem for the moment less convincing than those of its competitors Pfizer / BioNTech or Moderna, whose effectiveness exceeds 90%, but the British formula has the advantage of using a more traditional technology, making its future vaccine less expensive and easier to store since it does not need to be kept at very low speed. s low temperature.

In addition, investors are hopeful that "OPEC+ will extend its current (production) cuts," De Casa said.

According to the current agreement of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies, the current withdrawal from the market of 7.7 million barrels per day is to be reduced to 5.8 million barrels as of January 2021.

But many market observers are now counting on a postponement of three to six months, which will probably be recorded at the next summit of the cartel and its partners on November 30 and December 1.