Investing.com - Oil prices rose to a fresh two-month high on Monday, extending strong gains from last week as investors continued to cheer signs that the global market was starting to rebalance.
The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude September contract was at $49.95 a barrel by 3:25AM ET (0725GMT), up 24 cents, or around 0.5%. It touched its highest since May 30 at $50.06 earlier in the session.
Elsewhere, Brent oil for October delivery on the ICE Futures Exchange in London tacked on 23 cents to $52.45 a barrel, after touching $52.55, a level not seen since May 25.
The price rises put both crude benchmarks on track for a sixth consecutive session of gains.
WTI jumped $3.94, or about 8.5%, last week, while Brent rose $4.46, or roughly 9.3%, the largest such jump since early December, as fresh pledges from Saudi Arabia and Nigeria to respectively pull back on exports and output boosted sentiment.
Data showing a fourth consecutive week of declines in U.S. crude inventories and signs of a possible slowdown in U.S. shale production further added to optimism that the oil market was beginning to rebalance.
Weekly figures from energy services company Baker Hughes showed that the number of active rigs drilling for oil edged higher by two to 766 last week, suggesting early signs of moderating domestic production growth.
In the week ahead, market participants will eye fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products on Tuesday and Wednesday to gauge the strength of demand in the world’s largest oil consumer.
Elsewhere on Nymex, gasoline futures for September was up 2.4 cents, or roughly 1.6%, to $1.671 a gallon, while September heating oil added 1.5 cents to $1.655 a gallon.
Natural gas futures for September delivery slumped 6.0 cents, or 2%, to $2.881 per million British thermal units.