US oil prices surged higher for a second straight day Friday, with the US benchmark contract gaining 6.3 percent.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for October delivery jumped $2.66 to finish at $45.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday WTI prices rocketed 10.3 percent, rebounding from more than six year lows.

Over the week, the US contract has gained 11 percent, its strongest weekly increase in four and a half years. That came despite WTI falling Monday to its lowest close in six and a half years, at $38.24 a barrel.

"It's just incredible," said Phil Flynn of Price Futures Group. "The reason why oil prices have come back is we're feeling the sell-off was overdone."

"Most of the sell-off wasn't about demand destruction but fears of future demand destruction.
When oil prices went below $40 a barrel, that was a signal people thought that because of China, the global economy was going to grind to a halt," he said.