Today, U.S. oil prices rose 10% after a three-day sell-off as the spread of the coronavirus and a battle for market share between Saudi Arabia and Russia drove prices to their lowest in almost 20 years.

Benchmark Brent, which has lost half its value in less than two weeks, got some respite as investors across financial markets assessed the impact of massive central bank stimulus measures.

Brent crude LCOc1 was up 93 cents, or 3.8%, at $25.81 a barrel by 14:16 GMT, having plunged to $24.52 on Wednesday, its lowest since 2003.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 gained $2.20, or 10.8%, to $22.57 after dropping nearly 25% to an 18-year low in the previous session.

Saudi Arabia, however, de facto leader of OPEC, has since kicked off a price war with Russia, planning to increase supply to a record high 12.3 million barrels per day (bpd) for months.