Oil prices hit a two - month high on Monday lifted by a tightening US crude market and the threat of sanctions against OPEC- member Venezuela .
Brent crude futures were 52 . 90 dollars per barrel earlier in the day , their highest since May 25 .
U. S . West Texas Intermediate (WTI ) futures were up 16 cents or 0 . 3 per cent at 49 . 87 dollars per barrel .
The entire WTI curve is close to moving back over 50 dollars per barrel , with only September and October a notch below that levelOil prices hit a two - month high on Monday lifted by a tightening US crude market and the threat of sanctions against OPEC- member Venezuela .
Brent crude futures were 52 . 90 dollars per barrel earlier in the day , their highest since May 25 .
U. S . West Texas Intermediate (WTI ) futures were up 16 cents or 0 . 3 per cent at 49 . 87 dollars per barrel .
The entire WTI curve is close to moving back over 50 dollars per barrel , with only September and October a notch below that levelOil prices hit a two - month high on Monday lifted by a tightening US crude market and the threat of sanctions against OPEC- member Venezuela .
Brent crude futures were 52 . 90 dollars per barrel earlier in the day , their highest since May 25 .
U. S . West Texas Intermediate (WTI ) futures were up 16 cents or 0 . 3 per cent at 49 . 87 dollars per barrel .
The entire WTI curve is close to moving back over 50 dollars per barrel , with only September and October a notch below that level
The price rise put both crude benchmarks on track for a sixth consecutive session of gains .
Prices have risen around 10 per cent since the last meeting of leading members by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC ) and other major producers, including Russia .
At that instance , the group discussed potential measures to further tighten oil markets.
“ U. S inventories are showing massive draw down, Saudi Arabia seems intent on playing its role as the world ’ s swing producer .
“ Impending sanctions on Venezuela by the U. S will almost certainly be oil price- supportive, ” said Jeffrey Halley , an analyst at futures brokerage, OANDA.
The U. S is considering imposing sanctions on Venezuela ’ s vital oil sector in response to Sunday ’ s election of a constitutional super - body that Washington has denounced as a “ sham ” vote.
However , traders said the biggest price supporter was currently a tightening U. S oil market .
“ Strong increases in the price of oil … ( were) fuelled in large part by the substantial drawdowns in U. S . inventories over the past several weeks , ” said William O ’ Loughlin , analyst at Rivkin Securities .
“ A continuation of this trend could indicate the oil market is rebalancing thanks to the production cuts by OPEC and Russia , ” he added .
After rising by more than 10 per cent since mid- 2016 , U. S oil production dipped by 0 . 2 per cent to 9 . 41 million barrels per day (bpd) in the week to July 21 .
Drilling for new US production is also slowing, with just 10 rigs added in July, the fewest since May 2016 .
The tighter market was also visible in the price curve, which shows backwardation in the front end.
Backwardation is a market condition in which prices for immediate delivery of a product are higher than those later on .

This would reduce the hardship, but in the long run it'd be highly catastrophic.

And apc led govt still giving excuses