Crude oil rose to $50 per barrel for the first time in six months amid an accelerated fall in U.S. crude supplies and curtailed supplies have also been curtailed in Nigeria, Venezuela and Canada.
Futures climbed as much as 1.3 percent in New York to $50.21, the highest price since 9 October 2015. Brent crude topped $50 for the first time since November earlier on Thursday.
According to U.S.-based energy agency EIA, U.S. crude production dropped for an 11th week to 8.77m barrels a day.
Crude inventories slid by 4.23 million barrels last week, exceeding an expected drop of 2 million. Stockpiles at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the nation’s biggest oil-storage hub, fell by 649,000 barrels.
Further, The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is unlikely to set an output target when it meets June 2 as it sticks with Saudi Arabia’s strategy of squeezing out rivals, according to all but one of 27 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Source: Bloomberg