Adding to that, weekly US Department of Energy data released Wednesday showed US crude stockpiles fell by 2.5 million barrels and gasoline stocks by 2.7 million barrels.
Advertisement
International Brent crude oil futures dipped 18 cents and were trading at $49.67 per barrel, while the US, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures stood at $46.79 a barrel, Reuters reported.
Global benchmark Brent crude oil futures were trading at $50.80 per barrel at 8.56 p.m. ET, down 9 cents from their last close.
Brent crude had on June 8 climbed by as much as 2.1 per cent to touch $52.54, the highest price since last October.
Prices remain more than 20 percent higher than a six-week low hit earlier in August, supported by the potential freeze or even cut in output following next month’s meeting in Algeria between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other major producers like Russian Federation.
Oil has charged higher since news hit that OPEC members would have an impromptu meeting on the sidelines of a conference in Algeria at the end of September, to discuss strategies to stabilize the market. While some Gulf oil exporters have very low output costs, other producers such as Iran and Venezuela need oil prices above $100 to balance their budgets.
Brent on Thursday rose above $50 a barrel for the first time since June 24 in a sharp bull-run during which prices have soared more than 20% since early August.
The 14-member bloc is set to meet in late September in Algeria.
The black stuff has gained around 20 per cent since it first emerged that some of the world’s biggest producers were considering freezing their oil output to accelerate the embattled market’s recovery.
After oil prices returned to a bear market, traders used this fact as reason to return to the commodity, even though the likelihood of a supply agreement is highly unlikely.
OPEC members and non-OPEC rival Russian Federation are to meet informally in Algeria next month, as reports suggest that OPEC member Saudi Arabia is ramping up production to fresh record levels after an all-time high of 10.67 million barrels per day in July.
Advertisement
Analysts at Citi also warned of the risks of a price rally based largely on potential future talks, given that similar meetings failed to reap results earlier this year.
