UPDATE 11-Oil up above 2% on tighter supplies, eased lockdowns

(Adds settlement prices, market activity, comments)
By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK, June 22 (Reuters) - Oil was up 2% on Monday on
tighter crude supplies from major producers and as coronavirus
lockdowns kept easing despite a record rise in cases globally.
Brent crude LCOc1 settled at $43.08 a barrel, up 89 cents,
or 2.1%. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude contract for
August CLc2 , the day's more-active contract, settled at $40.73
a barrel, rising 90 cents, or 2.3%.
Prices got a boost from a plummeting U.S. and Canadian oil
rig count, an indicator of future supply, which fell to a new
low last week, said Andy Lipow, president of consultants Lipow
Oil Associates. The reopening of U.S. states and countries around the world
following business closures and stay-at-home orders caused by
the novel coronavirus, also helped oil rally, said Gene
McGillian, vice president of market research at Tradition Energy
in Stamford, Connecticut.
"Even though there seems to be more worries about COVID,
the market continues to move higher on the expectations that
things are getting back to normal," McGillian said.
Both Brent and U.S. contracts rose about 9% last week,
supported by a recovery in fuel demand as lockdowns eased and
economic activity resumed.
The prospect of greater compliance by OPEC and allies, a
group known as OPEC+, with coordinated production cuts to
balance the market, also supported oil. OPEC+ has yet to decide whether to extend a record supply
cut of 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) into a fourth month, so
it runs to the end of August. Ballooning virus cases in the United States and elsewhere
kept prices from moving higher.
South Korea said on Monday for the first time that it was in
the midst of a second wave of the coronavirus. The World Health
Organization reported a record rise in global cases on Sunday,
with the biggest gains from North and South America.
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Brent flips into slight backwardation in June https://tmsnrt.rs/2CtFZim
Brent moves into backwardation https://tmsnrt.rs/3dgNHcr
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