Output rose to 10.55 million barrels a day from 10.27 million in May, the data show. The session high of $51.05 was its highest since June 23.
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The rally has also been driven by short covering, as speculators including hedge funds and other money managers have amassed record short positions.
US crude stockpiles dropped by 2.5 million barrels last week to 521.1 million barrels, the EIA reported Wednesday.
“Oil prices climbed higher because of the USA crude stocks downtrend and positive market sentiment, led by OPEC talks”. Against a basket of currencies, the dollar fell 0.6 percent and hit an 8-week low versus the Swiss franc.
The Iranian Oil Minister, Bijan Nambar Zangeneh, has previously rejected the possibility of entering a production freeze agreement with OPEC on the grounds that the country is still recovering from the effects of several years of sanctions.
Despite calls from other OPEC members, notably Algeria and Venezuela, to halt production and reverse the oil glut, Saudi Arabia has continued to increase output, in part to prevent Iran from regaining market share.
Oil prices have rallied from lows of under $28 per barrel in January to trade above the $50 per barrel mark in June, spurred by a string of worldwide oil production outages in the second quarter that offered temporary respite from the global glut.
OPEC members will meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria on September 26-28.
Carsten Fritsch, senior oil and commodities analyst at Germany’s Commerzbank, said the crude oil market appeared to be near the top of its recent range.
Brent crude oil prices dipped in early Asian trading hours on Friday, but remained near two-month highs with Brent still holding above $50 per barrel in a bull-run that has lifted the market by over 20 percent since early August.
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Prices are still down by more than half from above $100 a barrel in 2014, but they are up 80% from six months ago, when they crashed to a decade low of below $30 a barrel. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
