U.S. crude and Brent oil futures climbed above $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in nearly seven months as a global supply glut that plagued the market for nearly two years showed signs of easing, according to CNBC.
Oil prices have rallied in recent weeks as a string of outages, due in part to wildfires in Canada and unrest in Nigeria and Libya, knocked out nearly 4 million barrels per day of production.
Above $50 a barrel, oil was seen by many market players as breaching a psychological barrier that could lead producers, particularly among U.S. shale companies, to revive operations scrapped in recent years.
U.S. crude and Brent oil futures climbed above $50 a barrel on Thursday for the first time in nearly seven months as a global supply glut that plagued the market for nearly two years showed signs of easing.
Global benchmark Brent crude oil was up 60 cents at $50.34 a barrel at 7:49 a.m. ET (1149 GMT), after a larger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude oil inventories last week indicated buyers are starting to mop up spare supply.
U.S. crude futures were up 52 cents at $50.08 a barrel, the highest since mid-October.
"Certainly ($50) is a psychological barrier. There is a momentum, people will try and push it up over that," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at Sydney's CMC Markets.
A source at oil producer Chevron said on Thursday its activities in Nigeria had been "grounded" by a militant attack, worsening a situation that had already restricted the supply of hundreds of thousands of barrels.
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