Oil prices rose Monday, 2 percent by the end of this year, after hints of a possible trade deal between the United States and China . 

Reuters reported that sentiment was boosted by oil with hints of a possible trade deal between the United States and China, with President Donald Trump saying he had "a very good call" with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. 

By 11 am Baghdad time, Brent crude futures rose $ 0.95 or 2.4% to reach 54.50 dollars per barrel.


US crude <LCOc1> was $ 46.26 a barrel, up 97 cents, or 2.14 percent, from its last close. 

For most of the 2018 period, oil prices were buoyed by strong demand and supply concerns, particularly with regard to the impact of renewing US sanctions on Iran'smain producer, which came into force in November. 

Brent, a global oil price index, rose about a third between January and $ 86.74 a barrel. 

That was the highest level since late 2014, when a sharp decline in the market began amid a growing global supply gap, with many analysts and many analysts expecting crude to hit $ 100 a barrel by the end of 2018.

Instead, Brent prices wiped out all of the 2018 gains to nearly 40 percent below the peak of the year, recording around $ 53.25 a barrel, in what has become one of the steepest declines in the oil market over the past three decades. 

This came after Washington unexpectedly gave generous exemptions to sanctions on Iran's biggest oil buyer and expectations for crude demand were weighed down by concerns about a global economic slowdown and trade disputes between China and the United States.