“Continued supply disruptions in Nigeria as well as a draw in US crude oil inventories and increased Chinese oil imports” were supporting prices on Wednesday, said Michael Poulsen, oil analyst at Global Risk Management. The Energy Information Administration said Tuesday that domestic crude production in May averaged 8.7 million barrels a day, down about 1 million barrels a day from its peak in April a year ago.
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International Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 were trading at $52.70 per barrel at 0045 GMT, up 19 cents from their last close.
The commodity has nearly doubled since hitting near 13-year lows at the start of the year as a global supply glut has eased thanks chiefly to a weakening dollar, signs of a pick-up in the world economy and falling production from Nigeria and Canada.
The group said on Wednesday it had attacked another oil well owned by US oil group Chevron, adding to assaults on oil infrastructure owned by Shell and ENI.
Consultancy JBC Energy said it had increased its 2016 oil demand growth outlook to above 1.4 million barrels per day, largely on increased US gasoline consumption.
A report by trade group American Petroleum Institute (API), released after prices settled, showed a higher-than-expected crude draw of 3.6 million barrels. Also, disruptions to oil production due to wildfires in Canada’s oil sands led to lower supply.
London Brent crude for August delivery was down 2 cents at $51.42 a barrel by 0108 GMT, after settling up 89 cents on June 7.
Continued output disruptions in Nigeria, signs of a pickup in global demand, and a USA dollar that has weakened in the wake of dovish comments from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Monday, are among the main catalysts for crude’s continued climb, said Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at Forex.com and City Index. Nigeria’s oil output was between 1.5 million and 1.6 million barrels a day, down from 2.2 million barrels at the start of the year.
A weaker dollar is also supporting oil prices traders said.
“A three-day winning streak came to an end yesterday”, said oil brokers PVM in a note to clients published on Friday.
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Another reason for rising oil prices is China, the world’s second largest oil consumer.
