Again, Oil Prices Rise Above $51

Oil price rise above $ 51. A severe disruption to Libyan oil supplies and comments from officials suggesting OPEC could extend its production cuts deal to the end of the year boosted oil prices on Tuesday.

But prices were still weighed on by resurgence in U.S. oil production and the expectation that inventories there would build up once again.

Prices for front-month Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international market benchmark, gained 55 cents to $51.30 per barrel by afternoon, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were up 50 cents at $48.23 a barrel.

Both Brent and WTI jumped by over 20 cents a barrel after a local industry source said Libya’s oil output had fallen by roughly a third, or 252,000 barrels per day (bpd). The fall was due to production blockage at the Sharara and Wafa oil fields.