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(Reuters) 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.
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.
Global benchmark Brent crude oil LCOc1 was up 31 cents at $50.05 a barrel at 0935 GMT, the highest in nearly 7 months, 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 CLc1 were up 30 cents at $49.86 a barrel, after touching $49.97, 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.
A meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on June 2 in Vienna to discuss the oil market added further support.
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