Oil jumps 3% on reports of effective coronavirus drug

News that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its producer allies are considering further output cuts to counter a potential squeeze on global oil demand further supported that had collapsed by more than 20% since early January.

​

Both Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 jumped by more than 3% in morning trade. By 0947 GMT Brent was up $1.44, or 2.6%, at $55.40 a barrel and (WTI) was up $1.19, or 2.4%, at $50.80.

​

China's Changjiang daily reported on Tuesday that a research team at Zhejiang University had found two new drugs that can effectively "inhibit coronavirus". 

​

Separately, Sky News reported that a British scientist has made a significant breakthrough in the race for a vaccine by reducing part of the normal development time from two to three years to only 14 days.

​

A vaccine will be too late for the current virus but the breakthrough will be crucial if there is another outbreak