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US oil prices hit their highest since 2015 again on Tuesday as speculators bet on further price rises amid OPEC-led production cuts and a dip in American drilling activity.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $62.24 a barrel at 0252 GMT - 51 cents, or 0.8 per cent, above their last settlement. They earlier marked a May-2015 high of $62.56 a barrel.
Beyond the record high, Tuesday’s peak was the strongest level for WTI since December, 2014, at the start of the oil market slump, reports Reuters.
Brent crude futures were at $68.22 a barrel, 44 cents, or 0.65 per cent, above their last close. Brent touched $68.27 last week, its highest since May, 2015.
Traders said prices were mainly being driven by speculative money being poured into crude futures on the notion of a tighter market following a year of production cuts led by the OPEC and Russia.
A slight dip in the amount of rigs in the United States drilling for new oil was supporting WTI, traders said.
The number of rigs drilling for oil fell by 5 to 742 in the week to Jan. 5, according to oil services firm Baker Hughes.
In Asia, the world’s biggest oil consuming region, there were also signs that despite the cuts in crude production, fuel supplies remain ample.
Enjoying good profit-margins in 2017, Asian refiners had cranked up processing to a record 23 million bpd by last October.