“Oil prices at $50 per barrel could revive shale-drilling activity and stabilize declining US oil production, possibly already previewed by the recent uptick in rig count”, said Norbert Rücker, head of commodities research at the Swiss bank Julius Baer, in a note.
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DXY on Friday after weak U.S.jobs data sparked concerns over the state of the world’s biggest economy, cutting expectations of a near-term cut in US interest rates. Royal Dutch Shell Plc said it won’t attempt to fix a key pipeline in Nigeria for now after militants attacked it a second time last week.
Attention is now on the release of U.S. Energy Information Administration stockpiles data on Wednesday, which a survey by Bloomberg News forecast to show a sharp fall in the week to June 3. Futures touched $52.47, the highest since 12 October.
Following supply outages in Canada, Venezuela, Libya and Nigeria, crude oil prices have almost doubled since January this year.
London Brent crude for August delivery was unchanged at $51.44 a barrel by 0151 GMT, after settling up 89 cents on Tuesday.
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts on Monday and is seen as supportive of prices as driving demand picks up in most Muslim dominated countries.
Crude has surged about 90 percent from that 12-year low in February amid unexpected disruptions and a continuous slide in USA output, which is under pressure from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ policy of pumping without limits. Furthermore, Reuter’s poll and the weekly report from the American Petroleum Institute showed a draw in U.S. stockpiles of nearly 2.7 million and 3.6 million barrels a day respectively, for last week. “For now we expect the oil price to continue higher”. The Nigerian government said on Tuesday it was initiating talks with the rebels.
Crude stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the biggest United States. oil-storage hub, fell by 1.31 million barrels last week, the API said Tuesday, according to people familiar with the figures. The Twitter account owned by a band of saboteurs that calls themselves the “Niger Delta Avengers” called one of the attacks part of its promise “that Nigeria Oil production will be Zero”.
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Nymex reformulated gasoline blendstock for July RBN6, -0.09% – the benchmark gasoline contract – rose 50 points to $1.5921 a gallon, while July diesel traded at $1.5398, 17 points lower.
