A barrel of Brent oil passed the 70 dollar mark on Monday for the first time since May 2019. A barrel of crude oil from the North Sea rose 2.11 percent and now stands at $ 70.89. The price increase follows a drone attack on Saudi oil installations on Sunday. Optimism about the economy also plays a role.

Last month, the 60-dollar-a-barrel line was crossed, for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began.

During the low point of the coronavirus crisis last year, much less oil was used because, for example, there was hardly any flying and people took much less cars because of working from home. This resulted in large oversupply, with the result that the oil price fell sharply and even became equally negative. In addition, traders put money into the sale of oil just to get rid of it.

Several market experts have now revised their expectations for oil prices in the coming months, also because they believe that the recovery of the global economy from the coronavirus crisis and vaccination against the virus outbreak will boost oil demand.