Brent closed at the highest in nearly three years amid signs the crude market is rapidly tightening from a global energy crunch.

Brent failed to break $80 because some speculators were taking profits, said Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities. “We should look for the market to reload and give the $80 level another shot in coming days.”

Crude is rallying on signs that inventories globally are falling sharply, with demand heating up ahead of winter and OPEC+ only slowly adding barrels back to the market. As traders eye the prospect of large market deficits, Trafigura said longer-dated oil prices remain cheap at around $70 a barrel. So-called timespreads, which gauge market strength, have rallied sharply in recent weeks in another sign that traders are positive about the outlook.

“Observable inventory draws are the largest on record,” Goldman Sachs analysts including Damien Courvalin wrote in a note to clients. “This deficit will not be reversed in coming months, in our view, as its scale will overwhelm both the willingness and ability of OPEC+ to ramp up.”

Meanwhile, OPEC+ is scheduled to meet on Oct. 4. to review its output policy. Internal documents from the group have already highlighted the risk of the natural gas crisis ramping up demand. World oil consumption could be boosted by an additional 370,000 barrels a day — roughly 6% of expected growth — if gas prices stay high for an extended period, according to the group.

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