Early on Tuesday, WTI crude oil continues to climb higher after gaining during the previous session over optimism of an anticipated improvement in demand as countries look to ease lockdown restrictions and restart economic activity. At the time of writing, WTI crude oil is trading at around $23.91 per barrel.

US oil prices gained around 3% of their value on Monday and are trading bullish for the fifth consecutive day over rising hopes of demand increasing as countries in Europe and some US states look to reopen their economies. In Europe, Italy, Spain and Portugal have resumed some extent of economic activities while in Asia, India and Thailand have also started easing the lockdown.

WTI crude oil has also benefited from the deeper production cuts that have been implemented by OPEC countries and their allies starting this month. Global oil demand is expected to have declined by as much as 30% as countries went into shutdown mode and stopped international travel.

While economists now expect recovery to take longer than previously forecast, signs of resumption of economic activity are lending support to oil prices lately. With economies restarting, the demand for oil is likely to start rising, albeit at a slow pace, in the coming weeks.