Oil prices, already rising on Monday, gained further ground after US biotechnology company Moderna announced the first conclusive results for its Covid-19 vaccine.

Around 8:50 a.m., a barrel of Brent North Sea crude for January delivery gained 3.69% from Friday's close at $44.36.

In New York, the US barrel of WTI for December appreciated by 4.14% to 41.79 dollars.

“The announcement of a second vaccine adds to the positive sentiment in the market today,” said Rystad analyst Bjornar Tonhaugen.

According to a press release, Moderna announced on Monday that analysis of the very first cases of a large clinical trial underway in the United States showed 94.5% effectiveness of its vaccine against Covid-19.

“A second cure for Covid-19 shows that a large-scale vaccination programme, with sufficient quantities for the world's population, is even closer. The demand for oil will not benefit from it in the very short term, but in a certain way in the medium and long term”, continued Mr. Tonhaugen to AFP.

Already last Monday, the announcement by the American laboratories Pfizer and German BioNTech that their vaccine candidate was "90% effective" against Covid-19 had triggered a jump in crude prices, which finally garnered more than 8% on the week.

Earlier in the day, several market observers highlighted the support given by the data on consumption in China in October, released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (BNS), to explain the rise in prices of black gold .

The market is also optimistic about Tuesday's meeting of ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies, led by Russia, via the OPEC + agreement.

Now monthly and by videoconference, this meeting "could recommend not to increase production as agreed by almost 2 million barrels per day from January, but to do so three or even six months later", explained Eugen Weinberg. , a Commerzbank analyst.

The agreement in force provides for the moment that the current voluntary withdrawal from the market of 7.7 million barrels per day - distributed between the various signatories, and without counting any catch-ups by latecomers - will be reduced to 5.8 million at from January 2021.